History Main / PrecrimeArrest

* In ''Film/MinorityReport'', three psychics are used by the state in order to apprehend and punish people before they commit murder. There is talk of expanding it into lesser crimes, as well, although the AsYouKnow conversation at the beginning explains that only murder is strong enough to trigger a psychic vision.

* In the short story "All the Troubles of the World" by Creator/IsaacAsimov, the [[MasterComputer Multivac supercomputer]] is used to churn through data about the population and predict crimes before they occur, allowing authorities to make precautionary arrests and investigations. The plot kicks off when the subject of one such arrest has no idea what he's being arrested for, and Multivac subsequently reports that the predicted crime (a murder) has ''increased'' in probability since the arrest.

* In Literature/ThroughTheLookingGlass, the White Queen tells Alice that the King's Messenger (the Hatter, or 'Hatta', by the illustrations) is in prison for a crime he has not yet committed, or been tried for. (This is Looking-Glass Land, which is in some ways time-reversed.)

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "Let's Kill Hitler" features the obvious HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct, from Melody Pond ''and'' from new character/crew Justice Department Vehicle #6018. The Justice vehicle is sent to ''painfully'' kill Time's greatest criminals just before their death (and ''after'' their crimes). They realize they've arrived too soon in Hitler's personal timeline, find a bigger fish: The woman who killed the Doctor. Except that she hadn't done that yet, either.

* In Literature/ThroughTheLookingGlass, the White Queen tells Alice that the King's Messenger (Hatter, by the illustrations) is in prison for a crime he has not yet committed. (This is Looking-Glass Land.)

* In ThroughTheLookingGlass, the White Queen tells Alice that the King's Messenger (Hatter, by the illustrations) is in prison for a crime he has not yet committed. (This is Looking-Glass Land.)

* In ''Film/MinorityReport'', three psychics are used by the state in order to apprehend and punish people before they commit murder. There is talk of expanding it into lesser crimes, as well, although the AsYouKnow conversation at the beginning explains that only murder is strong enough to trigger a psychic vision. Later, after Agatha is taken off her perpetually-drugged state, she sees visions of mundane things that have nothing to do with murder. On the other hand, the man arrested at the beginning was 2 seconds away from murdering his wife and her lover. He is swinging the weapon when Anderton bursts in and stops him. This makes it a clear case of attempted double murder by RealLife laws.

* In ''Film/MinorityReport'', three psychics are used by the state in order to apprehend and punish people before they commit murder. There is talk of expanding it into lesser crimes, as well, although the AsYouKnow conversation at the beginning explains that only murder is strong enough to trigger a psychic vision. Later, after Agatha is taken off her perpetually-drugged state, she sees visions of mundane things that have nothing to do with murder.

* During episode "Obsession" of ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', the main characters travel to a world where ten percent of the population have PsychicPowers. The Police Oracle identifies Arturo and Rembrandt as people who ''will'' kill Wade Wells, so the police make a Preventative Arrest. A BewilderingPunishment to all four at first. Basically, they're taken to the station, booked, and then released. If someone were to actually ''commit'' the crime, the police would have to chase them down, but otherwise the two are free to do whatever they want. [[spoiler: This is all a BatmanGambit by the old Prime Oracle to make sure his successor is a compassionate man in addition to already being a powerful one.]]
** A bit of research into the history of this world reveals that psychics became popular when one warned AbrahamLincoln about his impending assassination, allowing Booth to be captured before the attempt.

* During episode "Obsession" of ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', the main characters travel to a world where ten percent of the population have PsychicPowers. The Police Oracle identifies Arturo and Rembrandt as people who ''will'' kill Wade Wells, so the police make a Preventative Arrest. A BewilderingPunishment to all four at first. Basically, they're taken to the station, booked, and then released. If someone were to actually ''commit'' the crime, the police would have to chase them down, but otherwise the two are free to do whatever they want. [[spoiler: This is all a BatmanGambit by the old Prime Oracle to make sure his successor is a compassionate man in addition to already being a powerful one.]]

* In ''Film/MinorityReport'', three psychics are used by the state in order to apprehend and punish people before they commit murder. There is talk of expanding it into lesser crimes, as well.

Without knowing the future, society prevents additional crimes from happening by punishing the people caught committing them. Precrime Arrest, however, is when a character who is [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble known to be going to have committed]] a crime is punished in order to prevent them from committing it in the first place. The offender, if caught early enough, may suffer from BewilderingPunishment because they haven't even ''thought'' of committing the crime yet.

* In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', SHIELD's Project: Insight is based around this, having three all-new Helicarriers designed to police the world, taking out potential threats before they do any actual threatening. [[spoiler:In truth the project is under the control of HYDRA, and the Insight Helicarriers are driven by an algorithm designed by Arnim Zola to calculate any and all potential threats...to HYDRA's World Domination, and ''terminate them all''.]]

* ''Anime/PsychoPass'' takes place in [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture future Japan of 2112]], where Japan is governed by the Sibyl System, which measures many psychological factors. One of the things determined by a scanning people is the "Psycho Pass": the probability and severity of the crimes a person might commit. Those who have a high enough "Psycho Pass" are arrested or killed by Dominators, a type of gun used by the police. People who have a high "Psycho Pass", but haven't committed any crimes, are called "latent criminals". They generally have two choices: Be arrested and rehabilitated, or work for the police.

* ''Anime/PsychoPass'' takes place in [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture future Japan of 2112]], where Japan is governed by the Sibyl System, which measures many psychological factors. One of the things determined by a brain scan is the "Psycho Pass": the probability and severity of the crimes a person might commit. Those who have a high enough "Psycho Pass" are arrested or killed by Dominators, a type of gun used by the police. People who have a high "Psycho Pass", but haven't committed any crimes, are called "latent criminals". They generally have two choices: Be arrested and rehabilitated, or work for the police.

* ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''. Sarah Connor learns from the Terminator that the person most directly responsible for the creation of Skynet is a Cyberdyne Systems engineer named Miles Dyson. She tries to assassinate Dyson to prevent Skynet from ever existing.

* During episode "Obsession" of ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', the main characters travel to a world where ten percent of the population have psychic powers. The Police Oracle identifies Arturo and Rembrandt as people who ''will'' kill Wade Wells, so the police make a Preventative Arrest. A BewilderingPunishment to all four at first. Basically, they're taken to the station, booked, and then released. If someone were to actually ''commit'' the crime, the police would have to chase them down, but otherwise the two are free to do whatever they want. [[spoiler: This is all a BatmanGambit by the old Prime Oracle to make sure his successor is a compassionate man in addition to already being a powerful one.]]

* ''Anime/PsychoPass'' takes place in [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture future Japan of 2112]], where Japan is governed by the Sibyl System, which measures many psychological factors. One of the things determined by a brain scan is the "Psycho Pass": the probability and severity of the crimes a person might commit. Those who have a high enough "Psycho Pass" are arrested or killed by Dominators, a type of gun used by the police. People who have a high "Psycho Pass", but haven't committed any crimes, are called "latent criminals". They generally have two choices: Be arrested and rehabilitated or work for the police.

* ''Anime/PsychoPass'' takes place in [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture future Japan of 2112]], where Japan is governed by the Sibyl System, which measures many psychological factors. One of the things determined by a brain scan is the "Psycho Pass": the probability and severity of the crimes a person might commit. Those who have a high enough "Psycho Pass" are arrested or killed by Dominators, a type of gun used by the police. People who have a high "Psycho Pass", but haven't committed any crimes, are called "latent criminals". They generally have two choices: arrest, or work for the police.

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* ''Anime/PsychoPass'': The show takes place in a future in 2112 where Japan is governed by the Sibyl System. Using machines called Dominators they're able to measure the criminal intent in a person's soul, and arrest (or sometimes kill) them based on how bad their measurement is. The form of measurement is called a "Psycho Pass". Minor criminals tend to get caught before doing any crime, but others are a bit more sneaky, and avoid getting their psycho pass checked while it's going on.

* ''Anime/PsychoPass'': The show takes place in a future in 2112 where Japan is governed by the Sibyl System. Using machines called Dominators they're able to measure the criminal intent in a person's soul, and arrest (or sometimes kill) them based on how bad their measurement is. The form of measurement is called a "Psycho Pass".

* ''Anime/PsychoPass'': PsychoPass takes place in a future in 2112 where Japan is governed by the Sibyl System. Using machines called Dominators they're able to measure the criminal intent in a person's soul, and arrest (or sometimes kill) them based on how bad their measurement is. The form of measurement is called a "Psycho Pass".

* ''Anime/PsychoPass'': PsychoPass takes place in a future in 2112 where Japan is governed by the Sibyl System. Using Dominators they're able to measure the criminal intent in a person's soul, and arrest (or sometimes kill) them based on how bad their measurement is. The form of measurement is called a "Psycho Pass".

* In the short story [[Creator/IsaacAsimov "All the Troubles of the World"]], the [[MasterComputer Multivac]] uses its precrime functions to ''attempt suicide'' via a SelfFulfillingProphecy. The father of a household was identified as the person responsible for assassinating Multivac. Corrections agents placed him under house arrest and discovered that the probability of the assassination was ''increasing'', and continues to increase as they try to isolate him more and more. [[spoiler: Multivac is tracking the activities of his underage son, whose records are kept with the father until he is considered an adult. The underage son is asking Multivac what he has to do to get his father freed, and Multivac is feeding him instructions on passcodes and lies to tell the guards to get the boy to the master control room.]] When Corrections officer Lemmy finally catches onto the subtleties, the probability begins to decrease, and the assassin is prevented from hitting the BigRedButton.