Pre-crime

Pre-crime, also spelled precrime, is the idea that the occurrence of a crime can be anticipated before it happens. The term was coined by science fiction author Philip K. Dick, and is increasingly used in academic literature to describe and criticise the tendency in criminal justice systems to focus on crimes not yet committed. Pre-crime intervenes to punish, disrupt, incapacitate, or restrict those deemed to embody future crime threats. As a term, it embodies a temporal paradox, suggesting both that a crime has not yet occurred and that it is a foregone conclusion.