A Pre-crime system would benefit society

My opponent seems to have responded to my arguments with a paragraph of statements and open-ended questions, so I will reply to each in turn. Whether crimes are committed in a rational state of mind or not is irrelevant to the debate. Whether you are talking about a wife stabbing her husband to death for cheating on her, or a hitman hired to kill in cold blood, if a system existed, whereby you could 'see' these events taking place, then they could both be prevented from happening. The problem of having to arrest people who have not committed a crime is one that is much discussed in both the original short story and film versions of Minority Report. In the text, John Anderton describes the act of committing the crime itself to be 'complete metaphysics' and I think that the above clip, accurately illustrates the reasoning behind a Pre-crime system. The oracle (or machine, or whatever is doing the predicting) does not see what might happen, only what will happen. http://www.youtube.com... I do not understand my opponents reasoning behind the statement that a Pre-crime system would lead to a 'ridiculous and incompetent society, ruled by fear'. In fact, it would be quite the opposite. With the general public not having to live in fear of being murdered I don't see how hey would be 'ruled by fear'. The claims of incompetence are just as ludicrous. If anything, the system that is currently in place in society today, where police or other law enforcement agencies must follow leads or tips (which are often unreliable). Sometimes they catch the crook, sometimes they don't, but it is almost always after the crime has already been committed, in other words, it is almost always to late. To call a system that would eliminate the guesswork and uncertainty from police work, as well as the ability to apprehend a criminal before they can damage society incompetent does not make logical sense. Finally, I believe the only valid and on topic concern raised by my opponent was the problem of this system being abused. In his short story, Dick creates a check and balance system, whereby all the information that Pre-crime receives is also received by the army, meaning that neither organisation can abuse their power without the other knowing about it. It would not be difficult at all to set up a procedure similar to this is Pre-crime were ever made a real possibility. I acknowledge that although this would make it incredibly difficult to corrupt the system, it still would not be impossible. All I have to say on that matter is this: Corruption is already rampant in law enforcement today. People are susceptible to bribes and threats from criminals looking to get let off, and that will probably never change. But the system must be considered on its overall merits. No matter what we do, they flaws that make us all inherently human, and separate us from robots will always be apparent. Yet as the system becomes more reliable these flaws become less and less relevant. I have already outlined the vast benefits of a Pre-crime system and OVERALL, the advantages greatly out way the disadvantages, especially when those same disadvantages are already present in the current system.