If someone invented a technology that allowed for 100% detection of crimes and automatically created a huge database of every crime committed by every person in the world, what would happen to society? Given the enormous numbers of drug users, would the prison system implode? Would drugs be legalised once their huge popularity and the extent of their use by respected members of society was revealed? Would the world's politicians be decimated by a vast wave of arrests and popular uprisings as their crimes were revealed?
If such a technology ever was invented, I suspect the people in power would keep it very tightly under their control, to be accessed and used by them only. It might help them to destroy political opponents, but it would be useless for controlling the population unless it was used very selectively, as there would be too many people to arrest otherwise.
It would be interesting if multiple countries possessed their own global crime detection systems and could publish the crimes of each other's leaders. Would the public care enough to do anything about it? If France published a list of the crimes committed by US politicians, how many Americans would even believe it?
What penalties would you be liable for if there was a database file of all your crimes? I suspect I could get at least a few years of prison time.
