Bizarre crimes and punishment.

Rapid advances in biotechnology promise to revolutionize crime in the years ahead by creating bizarre new types of lawlessness and punishment. New discoveries about human aging, for example, may lead to black markets in drugs that retard--or accelerate--the aging process, Gene Stephens of the University of South Carolina's College of Criminal Justice predicted to the World Future Society.

"Such products could also be used by the criminal-justice system. One form of punishment might be to speed up a person's aging process. A hot-headed 25-year-old could be 'sentenced' to being turned into a more sedate 50-year-old. Older criminals might be punished by being deprived of anti-aging drugs."

The criminal-justice system also will have to deal with the issues posed by the use of transplanted body parts. "If the demand for body parts exceeds supply, laws may be enacted to deal with rich people who want to barter with poor people for their 'spare parts.' Stealing organs... may become a major issue." Parents might try to sell their children's body parts, Stephens warns. Already, parents have produced additional...