Precrime

Doctors, teachers and social workers will be told to act as informers to identify potential violent offenders for monitoring by the police and other agencies. Ministers hope that by spotting binge-drinkers, drug addicts and young gang members early before they commit serious crimes they can be placed on a national database and steered away from offending behaviour.

A "Minority Report" security system that can remotely screen thousands of air passengers for any who are planning a terrorist attack is being developed in the US. The aim of Project Hostile Intent is to find a way of catching would-be terrorists when they are just thinking of committing a crime. A battery of lasers, cameras, eye trackers and microphones would be used to spot tiny changes in facial expression, pulse, perspiration, and gait that give away "current or future hostile intentions".