[JURIST] Corrupt police and court systems are the most common institutions to demand bribes [press release], according to a report [PDF text] released Thursday by Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) [advocacy website]. The TI Global Corruption Barometer 2007 [TI website] found that globally "25 per cent of respondents who came in contact with the police were asked to pay a bribe." TI said the figures cast "serious doubts about citizens being guaranteed their democratic right to equal access to courts."

The TI study received 63,199 responses in 60 countries between June and September 2007. Worldwide, approximately one in every 10 people had to pay a bribe in the last year. Overall by region, most demands for bribery came from Africa, where 45 percent of respondents reported paying a bribe in the last year, followed by the Post-Soviet newly independent states, where reported 25 percent of respondents reported paying a bribe in the last year. Reuters has more.