From drone warfare in the Middle East to digital spying by the National Security Agency, the U.S. government has harnessed the power of cutting-edge technology to awesome effect. But what happens when ordinary people have the same tools at their fingertips? Advances in cybertechnology, biotechnology, and robotics mean that more people than ever before have access to potentially dangerous technologies--from drones to computer networks and biological agents--which could be used to attack states and private citizens alike.

In The Future of Violence, law and security experts Benjamin...