New study looks at bribe payments in Americas

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Is a bribe ever justified?

Nearly a third of people in Guyana and Haiti say it is. Less that one in 10 Guatemalans, Chileans or Brazilians agree.

The Vanderbilt University study released on Monday finds widely differing opinions about bribery across the Americas, and looks at the justifications people make for paying cash under the table to solve a problem.

"For many citizens, bribery is a rational adaptation to their situation and the available means," wrote Juan Camilo Plata, whose report was sponsored by the Latin American Public Opinion Project.

Plata said that some pay a bribe to produce "more certain results" where people doubt they will get fair treatment because of arbitrary justice, poor economic conditions and lack of trust in public officials.

Almost 41,000 respondents from 24 countries were asked to respond yes or no when asked, "Do you think given the way things are, sometimes paying a bribe is justified?"

Fewer than 8 percent of respondents from Guatemala, Chile and Brazil said it was OK to move things along.

But the idea was accepted by 32 percent in Guyana and Haiti, 28 percent in Belize and a quarter of those in Trinidad and Tobago. The margin of error was reported as 5 percentage points.

People who said paying a bribe is sometimes justifiable were mostly male, wealthy, young and urban, the report found.

Wealthy people are more likely to justify a bribe because they have the means to pay one, according to the survey, and city dwellers are more likely to justify a bribe because there are more opportunities to pay them in urban areas where there's a greater presence of government offices than in the countryside.

The likelihood that someone finds that bribery is sometimes justified drops as one ages and rises with one's interest in politics.