Bounty (reward)

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"Reward" redirects here; for more on psychological reward and punishment, see reinforcement.

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A bounty is often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. Bounties are most commonly issued for the capture or retrieval of a person or thing. They are typically in the form of money. Two modern examples of bounties are the bounty placed for the capture of Saddam Hussein by the United States and Microsoft's bounty for computer virus creators^[1]. Those who make a living by pursuing bounties are known as bounty hunters, such as Duane Chapman.

A Bounty System was used in the American Civil War. It was an incentive to increase enlistments.

Another bounty system was used in New South Wales to increase the number of immigrants from 1832^[2].

Bounties were sometimes paid as rewards for killing Native Americans. In 1862, a farmer received a $500 bounty for shooting Taoyateduta (Little Crow). In 1856 Governor Isaac Stevens put a bounty on the head of Indians from Eastern Washington, $20 for ordinary Indians and $80 for a "chief". A Western Washington Indian, Patkanim, chief of the Snohomish, obligingly provided a great many heads, until the Territorial Auditor put a stop to the practice due to the dubious origins of the deceased.

Bounty hunters provided most of the prisoners held in Guantánamo Bay detainment camp^[3], most of whom were later released or are slated for release, after having been cleared of any wrongdoing.