Situational Corruption Prevention

Despite the growing concern towards corruption, there is little evidence of knowledge regarding the application of situational crime prevention (SCP) in such a domain. The aim of this paper is to understand to what extent SCP can be applied in this specific field. To achieve such an objective, the paper first discusses the principles of situational crime prevention. It then applies these principles to corruption: (i) by identifying a “specific” form of corruption, such as corruption in public procurement, and (ii) by conducting an in-depth analysis of specific court cases dealt with by Italian Criminal Courts, so as to explore the modus operandi of corrupt agents and to identify the circumstances giving rise to each specific corrupt deal. The paper concludes by revealing that situational corruption prevention measures could be framed within two main lines of intervention: one relating to the “external risks” and the other relating to the “internal risks” suffered by corrupt agents when bargaining corrupt deals. Concrete examples of situational corruption prevention measures are finally discussed.