Criminal law and precrime: legal studies in canadian punishment and surveillance in anticipation of criminal guilt

In Philip K. Dick's short story 'Minority Report', the institution of Precrime punishes people with imprisonment for crimes they would have committed had they not been prevented.

With Dick's allegorical inspiration, the authors of 'Criminal Law and Precrime: Legal Studies in Canadian Punishment and Surveillance in Anticipation of Criminal Guilt' posit that recent developments in Canadian law indicate a trend toward imposing punitive measures at increasingly earlier stages of the prosecutorial process.

The result is a potentially new field of criminal management that could be characterized as 'precrime' - particularly the use of the law as a technology of surveillance and prevention since 'terror' became a justification for intervention.