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I wish I were a writer and made a living writing fiction, because then
I could just write a novel or something based on this idea. However, I'm
not, and I'm too lazy to write, so I'll just throw the idea here. (It will
disappear in a couple of weeks and people will forget it soon after, but
that doesn't really matter.)
Of course there's nothing new under the sun, so there most probably exist
countless stories already with similar ideas, but nevertheless, I think this
could be a bases for a good book or movie script.
Some time in the near future there's a city or country where some
innovative new form of criminal investigative process has been implemented,
bringing the conviction rates for serious crimes (such as murders) to
almost 100%. As a consequence of this the incidence of such crimes has
dropped dramatically (because the high conviction rates also act as a good
deterrent.)
A new police recruit starts slowly, during the years, getting a clearer
and clearer picture of what's really happening, though. The reality is:
While yes, many real criminals are convicted, but when a crime is way too
hard to solve, the police will take some hobo, plant the necessary evidence,
and convict him.
When the recruit discovers this, he is given the speech. The argument
why it's not as bad as it sounds: The very fact that conviction rates are
so high acts as a good deterrent for criminals, which is why crime rates
overall have plummeted so dramatically. Yes, sometimes an innocent person
is convicted, but it's not that bad: He was a homeless drunkard living on
the streets who owned nothing more than the rags he was wearing. In prison
he is given the opportunity to better himself: He can study, take classes,
learn and do jobs, and so on. He can actually transform from a useless hobo
to a contributing member of the society.
However, that's not the full story, as the recruit later learns. At first,
when this "methodology" was first instituted, this was considered an utmost
last resort, when everything else failed. However, over the years the police
got lazier and lazier. After all, it was so much easier to simply convict a
hobo than the real criminal. That threshold at which the police would simply
give up investigating a crime and convict an innocent hobo got lower and
lower as time passed. Some repeat criminals were actually getting the gist
of the scheme, and had learned to fool the system (which had got, as said,
lazier and lazier at catching the actual criminals).
So the recruit is faced with a moral dilemma: Expose the entire scheme
to the world, enraging everybody, probably causing revolts and making crime
rates once again sky-rocket, probably causing most of the convicted criminals
to be freed (even those who really were guilty, but convicted under dubious
conditions), or keep quiet about it and let the scheme continue. (After all,
the crime rates *are* record low at the moment...)
--
- Warp
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On 04/12/2011 12:04 PM, Warp wrote:
> Of course there's nothing new under the sun, so there most probably exist
> countless stories already with similar ideas
Minority Report, anyone?
The angle there was not so much that you have 100% detection rates, but
that you can detect crime before it happens. A few crimes still go
unsolved, and some people figure out how to use that to their
advantage... Not an entirely disimilar angle though.
(Of course, that film will always be remembered not for precrime, but
for the futuristic computer interface technologies. If nothing else,
that ensures it will be remembered forever.)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Orchid XP v8 <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
> On 04/12/2011 12:04 PM, Warp wrote:
> > Of course there's nothing new under the sun, so there most probably exist
> > countless stories already with similar ideas
> Minority Report, anyone?
Only a very vague resemblance.
In Minority Report they only caught murderers and the technique to do that
was supernatural (and it was done *before* the murders happened). The
technique actually worked and was not based on deception and convicting
the innocent.
> The angle there was not so much that you have 100% detection rates, but
> that you can detect crime before it happens. A few crimes still go
> unsolved, and some people figure out how to use that to their
> advantage... Not an entirely disimilar angle though.
No, the crimes didn't go unsolved. The idea (spoiler alert) was to
mask a new crime as the same as a previous crime, so that it would be
dismissed. (The precogs were established to sometimes have memories of
the same crimes they had predicted in the past, and thus give a false
positive.)
--
- Warp
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On 12/4/2011 5:03, Warp wrote:
> Only a very vague resemblance.
That's a good thing. The closest similar story has only the vaguest
relation. :-)
Me, I think that's a brilliant idea for a story. You should at least write
it up as an outline. You'd also need to decide how to end the story, as all
you really have is the environment.
I've found that I often come up with ideas for stories that are really
nothing more than environments for stories to happen in.
> No, the crimes didn't go unsolved. The idea (spoiler alert) was to
> mask a new crime as the same as a previous crime, so that it would be
> dismissed. (The precogs were established to sometimes have memories of
> the same crimes they had predicted in the past, and thus give a false
> positive.)
Plus, the movie was virtually nothing like the story itself.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
People tell me I am the counter-example.
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On 12/4/2011 4:04 AM, Warp wrote:
>
> Of course there's nothing new under the sun, so there most probably exist
> countless stories already with similar ideas, but nevertheless, I think this
> could be a bases for a good book or movie script.
>
I'm not aware of any stories which have used this precise plot, but what
you describe is a pretty well known philosophical thought experiment
used to study/critique classical utilitarianism. You're right that it
makes a good storyline though, and this combined with the fact that the
premise is well known makes me a bit surprised I haven't ever seen such
a story.
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On 04/12/2011 07:43 PM, Kevin Wampler wrote:
> I'm not aware of any stories which have used this precise plot, but what
> you describe is a pretty well known philosophical thought experiment
> used to study/critique classical utilitarianism. You're right that it
> makes a good storyline though, and this combined with the fact that the
> premise is well known makes me a bit surprised I haven't ever seen such
> a story.
What surprises me is the sheer multitude of films who's premise is "you
decide to replace Santa, and then it all goes horribly wrong, and now
you have to save Christmas". I mean, because *nobody* has done that one
already...
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Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> What surprises me is the sheer multitude of films who's premise is "you
> decide to replace Santa, and then it all goes horribly wrong, and now
> you have to save Christmas". I mean, because *nobody* has done that one
> already...
You decide to replace Santa? I can't think of any movie like that. Care
to give an example?
There are, of course, plenty of movies where someone is chosen to be
the "new Santa" (because, in the universe of these movies, Santas have a
limited lifespan, and a new one needs to take his place when the old one
becomes too old), and it usually happens (at first) against their will.
If you want to see a different Santa movie, try "Rare Exports: A Christmas
Tale" (the full-feature movie; although the short movie it's loosely based
on is ok too.)
--
- Warp
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>> What surprises me is the sheer multitude of films who's premise is "you
>> decide to replace Santa, and then it all goes horribly wrong, and now
>> you have to save Christmas". I mean, because *nobody* has done that one
>> already...
>
> You decide to replace Santa? I can't think of any movie like that. Care
> to give an example?
The Nightmare Before Christmas? Just off the top of my head...
> There are, of course, plenty of movies where someone is chosen to be
> the "new Santa" (because, in the universe of these movies, Santas have a
> limited lifespan, and a new one needs to take his place when the old one
> becomes too old), and it usually happens (at first) against their will.
Well, yeah, or that. Or there's some sort of mixup and everyone ends up
believing that some random dude is actually Santa. Or whatever.
> If you want to see a different Santa movie, try "Rare Exports: A Christmas
> Tale" (the full-feature movie; although the short movie it's loosely based
> on is ok too.)
OK...
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On 12/6/2011 3:07, Warp wrote:
> You decide to replace Santa? I can't think of any movie like that. Care
> to give an example?
Nightmare before Christmas, as well as Hogfather. (Both of which feature
Grim Reaper / Death taking over for Santa.)
> There are, of course, plenty of movies where someone is chosen to be
> the "new Santa"
Or the new Grim Reaper. Funny how often these go together.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
People tell me I am the counter-example.
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Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> Or the new Grim Reaper.
It could be fun to watch one of those. Any suggestions?
--
- Warp
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