While a pre-crime unit that tries people based on crimes they've not yet committed may require some far-off/impossible technology, pre-emptive policing of course already exists. In fact, computer algorithms—which mine everything from criminal data to weather patterns—are already being successfully employed to anticipate and prevent criminal activity.

AVCO Embassy Pictures

Escape From New York (1981)

Crime-fighting premise: In an alternate 1988 where crime has risen by more than 400 percent, Manhattan Island is transformed into a city-sized prison (it's a similar story in the L.A.-set sequel, but the less said about that the better). Shut off from the rest of society by government forces, inmates are left to themselves. Unless, of course, you're a gravelly voiced ex-special forces type with one eye and a bad limp.

Criminologists say: While John Carpenter's timeline might have been a little off, according to the experts I spoke with, his idea wasn't so wide of the mark. "Given that more things are being seen as criminalized ... I see that this is very possible, especially if the economic conditions continue to worsen and unemployment continues to rise." Rothe says. Indeed, figures released last year by the Department of Justice showed that the U.S has the highest incarcerated population in the world; there are currently around 2.2 million people here behind bars, a number equal to a city the size of Houston. "I could very easily see [a situation] where they would make a huge area into a prison where people were left in there to their own devices," Rothe says. "In many ways we already see that internally, even though it's not spoken about, within our own prison system. So I don't see it as so far fetched."

TriStar

The Running Man (1987)

Crime-fighting premise: By 2017 (not long now, then), the global economy will collapse, transforming America into a totalitarian state where censorship is rampant. The public is kept in line by gladiatorial-style reality shows, where inmates attempt to escape certain death in return for a possible pardon.

Criminologists say: Given that we already live in a world where the schedules are saturated with reality shows, the premise behind The Running Man is starting to look at lot less absurd. "I think that it would be quite easy to keep the population in check through oppression, mandated infotainment and through fear..." Rothe says. "If it was truly a totalitarian police state then it is entirely plausible, because at that point the general population, much less the criminal population, are dispensable. So why not use them not only to decrease the numbers in the prisons, but also to entertain and pacify the general population, to keep them from being any kind of threat to the state itself?"

The Purge (2013)

Crime-fighting premise: A decade from now, the U.S government sanction an annual purge, a 12-hour period of catharsis during which emergency services are suspended and all crime is made legal.