Minority Report
Do you remember that Tom Cruise movie from a few years ago titled "
Minority Report"? It was a fun film about a futuristic society that was advanced in many ways, yet still plagued by crime, selfishness, and greed as we are today. There are several redeeming features of this movie, not the least of which my friend, NCJC & Pepperdine Alum
Kathryn Morris stars as Tom Cruise's wife. Also, it has one of the coolest demonstrations of a GUI since the virtual database in "
Disclosure".
However, the element of concern today is the "Department of Precrime" in Washington, DC. This Dept. uses three sisters with Psychic Abilities to predict (and prevent) "future crimes" that will be committed. Then Precrime Officers (like our own Tom Cruise) are sent to arrest and jail the predicted perpetrators before any crime is committed. Fantastic, huh? Wouldn't it be neat if we could prevent crime this way? Well, it seems the current fear of terrorism is leading to a similar approach. The AP today reports that six "Islamic radicals" were arrested for plotting to attack Ft. Dix in order to "kill as many soldiers as possible". Tragically, it would not surprise me if these "radicals" were shipped to GITMO and stored for a couple of years without a trial or even an official charge.
Don't get me wrong...I don't want to see any more of our soldiers or anyone else (rather they are Americans or not) killed. However, is it really a good idea to allow--and even pursue--swift justice for those who have yet to commit a crime? For now, forget the fact that its possible one or more of the "conspirators" could easily change their mind and not carry out the attack--heck, they could even work against it by turning evidence to State before the attack. Also, forget the idea that these kinds of "plotting to commit a crime" charges are easily manipulated to punish political foes. Just think about this...if this trend continues where will it end? Is this beginning of taking pre-emptive legal action across our legal system? For example...firing an employee because they have the genetic predisposition towards expensive cancer treatments (think Gattica), imprisoning high school and college students who have a psychological tendency to violence (think VT & Columbine), aborting a fetus because it does not have optimal personal traits...the list goes on and on. The only upside of this trend is that I could assign grades to my MBA students based on their current GPA. After all, numerous studies have found that GPA is the best predictor of course performance.
Is this the direction we want to go? Or...do we believe that people have the ability to change course even after making "plans"?
