Corruption is a phenomenon that is legally defined based on individual behaviors of abuse or misuse of power or trust, to the detriment of public administration, and for the sake of private benefit. For this reason, criminal policy has focused on removing corrupt officials from office. In contrast, this article refers to various forms of corruption of a more collective, structural or institutional type, as well as to new forms of political or significant corruption and even to extreme forms of “State capture“ by criminal groups. Furthermore, it makes a warning regarding the lack of attention in national and international law to the corruptors, understood as those who have the capacity and function of corrupting, considering that corruption can also be identified as an institutional-type phenomenon.
