Quote from: Tjm86 on 12 May, 2024, 07:23:04 AMFolded into this was a future scape not a million miles removed from where we are today. You only have to look at some of the debates around crime in major cities across the UK and US (amongst other nations) to see how prescient the concept actually was.
I'mn intrigued by this. As I understand it, in the US and UK violent crime, at least, has MASSIVELY gone down in the lifetime of the existence of 'Judge Dredd' the comic strip. Whether this is due to increased powers that police/justice system has I don't know, but I doubt it? Don't think that's an argument people make?
Possibly there's a link in that crime has gone down as surveillance has massively gone up - CCTV cameras so normal we don't even notice them, and so on. So basically, Wagner's idea of PSU is connected to real-world crime stats, but otherwise for me Judge Dredd is more about pursuing a Conservative's dream about what law-enforcement might look like, not one based on actually observing the world...
I should note, I have not (yet) read Molch-R's book on the subject, so I'm sure I'm missing lots of important facts and insights!