UPenn trains officers to detect precrimes, just like in Minority Report. UPenn and Tom Cruise still suck

Criminologists will work with probation officers in a new unit that will try to spot offenders already under criminal justice system supervision who are most likely to commit homicides, and head off future killings.

University of Pennsylvania experts will train a five-officer Homicide Prevention Unit that will review tens of thousands of cases looking for potential killers, and provide them with intensified supervision and treatment.

"If we can pinpoint these needles in the haystack and help them turn their lives around, we might well help to make Philadelphia a safer city," said Lawrence W. Sherman, director of the university's Jerry Lee Center of Criminology, which is providing half of the $1 million in funding for the unit. The rest of the money comes from the city and state.