Abstract: The study examines the matrix of victim blaming in corruption manifestations using the example of the most common corruption-related crimes - bribery. The following features of the problem under consideration are revealed: bribery as a social phenomenon is characterized by the problem of determining the victim of the crime; in social studies, the prevailing opinion is that bribery is the commission of active actions by two or three subjects of illegal activity; there is a comprehensive assessment of bribery as a guilty act both on the part of the bribe giver and the bribe taker; the negative public assessment of the bribe giver, bribe taker and (or) intermediary in bribery increases significantly in the process of an integrated approach to the relevant forms. General scientific and specific scientific methods of cognition were used; structural-logical and dialectical methods were applied, as well as methods of analysis, synthesis, deduction and induction, which made it possible to put forward the problems of victim blaming in criminal cases. In the main part of the study, the victim-blaming matrix is ​​considered for crimes related to bribe-taking and bribe-giving according to the following formula: "criminal - victim" or "criminal - intermediary - victim". A distinctive feature is the following pattern: when receiving a bribe: an official is a criminal, a bribe-giver is a criminal and a victim, an intermediary in bribery is a victim (in exceptional cases, the status is not defined); when giving a bribe: an official is a victim, a bribe-giver is a criminal, an intermediary in bribery is a victim (in exceptional cases, the status is not defined). The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the very nature of victim-blaming is very complex, since it characterizes social, individual, psychological, cultural and moral processes

Keywords: bribe taker, features of victimblaming, victimblaming, victim blaming, victim accusation, bribery, corruption-related crimes, briber, mediation in bribery, public opinion