Understanding corruption through the analysis of court case content: research note

Abstract

PurposeThe two main objectives of this project were to advance knowledge about the way corruption and related offences are structured and operate in society and to draw inferences on the efficiency and efficacy of the judicial authorities in handling reported offences with the ultimate goal of improving and effecting control policies.Design/methodology/approachIn this research note the authors attempt to explore the relevance of judicial materials. The authors developed an analytical framework to extract information from court case decisions and analysed 838 court cases on corruption and related offences in Portuguese first instance courts for the period 2004–2008 to map the distribution of corruption and related offences, understand the anatomy of corruption as a criminal offence and learn from the judicial system's capacity to investigate, prosecute and trial reported occurrences.FindingsMost corruption cases took place in the major metropolitan areas, involved municipalities as passive agents and construction companies as active agents and had to do with urban sprawl and land management policies. Court data also allowed the authors to gauge the areas or sectors of activity more exposed to corruption risks. Generally speaking, these tend to be those areas or sectors characterized by high levels of informality and clientelism, high profitability ratios deriving from political decisions, unbalanced supply-demand of decisional goods and services, disorganised and fragmented regulation, low levels of transparency and insufficient or misguided supervision.Research limitations/implicationsThe framework for analysis is replicable in other contexts with minor adjustments. The major limitation is access to court decisions/narratives. This project was developed in partnership with the Portuguese Public Prosecutor's Office. This has facilitated access to those materials. For those wishing to use the database, the major limitation is that it covers only the period 2004–2008.Practical implicationsThe court narratives confirm that in cases where the complaint is complemented by documentary, audio, video and photographic evidences collected by special investigative means the subsequent production of proof in court is more effective. The data also suggests that cases reported from inside the organisation where the offence takes place are likelier to reach the trial phase, thus reinforcing the need for diversifying and strengthening reporting mechanisms and procedures and the guarantees to those who are willing to collaborate with the auditing and investigative authorities.Social implicationsThe authors contend that court cases of corruption and related offences yield important and useful policy-oriented information that should not be overlooked by decision-makers when upgrading their efforts to fight corruption.Originality/valueThis research note introduces a novel dataset on corruption court cases in Portugal. The policy significance of this dataset is threefold: (1) it provides decision-makers a more detailed mapping of the volume and distribution of corruption and related offences across the country than that provided by standard judicial statistics; (2) it fosters knowledge on key sociological aspects of the corrupt fact, thus helping decision-makers to understand better the type of actors, objectives, contexts, resources and exchanges involved and (3) it helps to understand the dynamics of judicial proceedings and how certain procedural and institutional features impact on outcomes.

Cuidado Domiciliar Da Criança Em Uso De Traqueostomia: Perspectiva Dos Cuidadores No Contexto Amazônico

“…Cuidado domiciliar da criança em uso de traqueostomia: perspectiva dos cuidadores no contexto amazônico Pereira IC, Flores PVP, Silva LF da simples. Os enfermeiros devem promover um cuidado seguro e de alta qualidade, a fim de reduzir as internações hospitalares, avaliar as necessidades de aprendizagem dos cuidadores familiares e fornecer educação em saúde sobre os cuidados com a traqueostomia [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] .…”

“…Microsoft Excel e analisados através da estatística descritiva simples. Os dados das gravações das entrevistas foram transcritos na íntegra, armazenados no programa Microsoft Word e analisados conforme a Análise de Conteúdo, desenvolvida por Bardin 10 . Foi realizada uma leitura flutuante do material e busca de elementos para compor a análise, definidas as categorias e, então, os resultados foram interpretados.…”

Atención Domiciliaria a Niños Con Traqueostomía: La Perspectiva De Los Cuidadores en El Contexto Amazónico

“…El cuidado para garantizar el mantenimiento y la continuidad de la vida no es una conducta simple. Los enfermeros deben promover cuidados seguros y de alta calidad para reducir los ingresos hospitalarios, evaluar las necesidades de aprendizaje de los cuidadores familiares y proporcionar educación sanitaria sobre los cuidados de la traqueostomía [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] .…”

“…Los datos sobre la caracterización de los participantes se almacenaron en Microsoft Excel y se analizaron mediante estadística descriptiva simple. Los datos de las entrevistas grabadas se transcribieron íntegramente, se almacenaron en Microsoft Word y se analizaron según el Análisis de Contenido desarrollado por Bardin 10 . Fue realizada una lectura flotante del material en busca de elementos que conformaran el análisis, se definieron las categorías y, a continuación, se interpretaron los resultados.…”

Deontological and Consequentialist Ethics and Attitudes Towards Corruption: A Survey Data Analysis

“…We do not have an empirically proven explanation for this observation, but we can speculate that it is probably related to the 'broken windows' theory (Amini & Douarin, 2020;Kelling & Wilson, 1982). A court case study by de Sousa and Calca (2020) shows that the municipalities in coastal areas (in particular in the judicial districts of Lisbon, Oporto, and Coimbra) are those that register the highest number of corruption and embezzlement offences. The authors advance two possible explanations for this: 'Much of the corruption cases that took place in the metropolitan area of Oporto, involved municipalities and construction companies and had to do with rapid urban sprawl and land management policies.…”