After seeing Minority Report (my review), I had a lot of thoughts that ran through my mind. Many of the topics covered in Minority Report are in high debate and discussion right now. Here are some thoughts and questions that ran through my mind. I offer these as questions with no answers from me. The answers need to be determined by the reader.
**SPOILERS**
- How far do governments need to go to prevent crime?
- If someone is caught plotting a crime, should they be punished?
- What if there was a chance they would not have gone through with the crime?
- At what point should people be punished for thinking of committing a crime?
- Isn’t it possible for people just to fanaticize about killing people without actually doing it?
- Should they be punished for the fantasy?
- Below are some hypothetical scenarios for the reader to think about.
- The teenage kid scenario:
- A 16-year old teenager walks around school with a notebook listing all the bullies who have
- always picked on him. At the beginning of the list of bullies is the title “People I’d like to kill”.
- Should the 16-year-old be punished for creating such a list?
- What if he was never going to go through with killing the bullies?
- How should it be determined if he was going to go through with killing the bullies or not?
- Another 16-year-old teenage walks around a different school with a different list of bullies he’d like to kill. The difference between this list and the other is that it is not in a notebook; the list is in the teenagers head.
- Does having the list of bullies to kill in one’s head as opposed to in one’s notebook make the situation less drastic?
- Can people only commit crime if they write it down on paper?
- A 16-year old teenager walks around school with a notebook listing all the bullies who have
- The employee-boss scenario
- A 35-year-old man works a crap job at a factory. After working for the same company for over 17 years, never being promoted, and recently receiving a pay cut; he begins to fantasize about killing his boss. One day he jokes about it to some co-workers.
- How serious should this “joking” be taken?
- The employee may have serious desires to kill his boss, but does that mean he would actually do it?
- Should he be punished for the mere thought of killing or just for verbalizing it?
- Does verbalizing the thought of killing make it more plausible?
- A 35-year-old man works a crap job at a factory. After working for the same company for over 17 years, never being promoted, and recently receiving a pay cut; he begins to fantasize about killing his boss. One day he jokes about it to some co-workers.
- The almost terrorist scenario
- A man was planning a terrorist act. He had the whole thing intricately planned out with maps, a date, and a time. After seeing the aftermath of September 11th and losing a close friend in the destruction, he decides not to go through with. Before his original planned date of terrorism, the man’s plan is discovered. All maps, charts, notes, etc. are found. But he claims he wasn’t going to go through with the plan.
- How should it be determined whether or not he was going to go through with the terrorist act?
- Should his change of plans even matter?
- A man was planning a terrorist act. He had the whole thing intricately planned out with maps, a date, and a time. After seeing the aftermath of September 11th and losing a close friend in the destruction, he decides not to go through with. Before his original planned date of terrorism, the man’s plan is discovered. All maps, charts, notes, etc. are found. But he claims he wasn’t going to go through with the plan.
- The teenage kid scenario:
- If one man could be killed to prevent all future murders, should he be killed?
- What if that man were not enough and four men needed to be killed?
- How about five men?
- At what point should a line be drawn?