Adolphe Quetelet and the Origins of Positivist Criminology Author(s): Piers Beirne Reviewed work(s): Source: American Journal

of Sociology, Vol. 92, No. 5 (Mar., 1987), pp. 1140-1169 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2779999 . Accessed: 08/11/2011 05:31
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Adolphe Quetelet and the Origins of Positivist Criminologyl

Piers Beirne University SouthernMaine of

of contribution This articleexaminesthe largelyunacknowledged of criminolAdolphe Quetelet(1796-1874) to the origins positivist tendedto be misrepresented ogy. Quetelet'slabors have previously of expression eitheras a politicalprojectthat was an unmediated the stateand class interests as a discourse or thatanticipated subseof and quentmaturation Lombrosianism theChicagoschoolofecolsocialmechanics of here,instead,thatQuetelet's ogy.It is suggested in of from be crimeshouldproperly understood terms itsemergence and the stasome of the focal concernsof the domainsof penality tistical movementwhich, during the Restoration,coincided in of the issue of the regulation the "dangerousclasses." This coincidence informedQuetelet's ideas about the constancyof crime, the criminalpropensities, causes of crime,the average man, and concludesthatQuetelet's social regulation. This articletentatively fostered rigid binary a multifaceted analysis of crime ultimately and betweennormality deviationand providedtheepisopposition of mentalhereditaricoreforthedominance biologism, temological in criminology. anism,and economism positivist Societyitselfcontainsthe germsof all the crimescommitted.It is the social state,in some measure,thatprethe is and thecriminal merely instruparesthesecrimes, mentthatexecutesthem.[QUETELET 1835] periodof social science,AdolpheQueteletwas for Duringthe formative it in figures Europe, though is halfa century of the mostinfluential one that as in and onlyin astronomy, statistics, in meteorology his reputation
1 This paper profited at of of greatly from generosity theInstitute Criminology the in me whichprovided witha visiting scholarship summer University, Cambridge

1985. For theirencouragementand for theirhelpfulcriticismof an earlier version of this paper, I am indebted to Susan CorrenteBeirne, David Garland, Guy Houchon, Ian Taylor, and the anonyAlan Hunt, Peter Lehman, Rosy Miller, Sawyer Sylvester, fromthe French mous reviewersforAJS. Unless otherwiseindicated, all translations are my own. Requests for reprintsshould be sent to Piers Beirne, Department of Sociology, Universityof Southern Maine, Portland, Maine 04103. ?) 1987 by The Universityof Chicago. All rightsreserved. .50 0002-9602/87/9205-0004$01

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AJS Volume 92 Number5 (March 1987): 1140-69

Quetelet a pioneer and seminalthinker securely is beyonddoubt. Quetelet's analysis of social organization was frequently pressedintoservicefora broad spectrum politicaland ideologicalinterests: of about his Sur l'homme (On thatitwas "an Man) of 1835,Marx wrotein theNew YorkDaily Tribune excellent and learnedwork"([1853] 1956,p. 229), and, ofthesame book, Durkheimclaimedin Suicide thatits idea of thehomme moyen (average man) embodied"a theory, moreover, whichhas remainedthe onlysystematic explanation theremarkable [of] regularity withwhichsocial phenomenarepeatthemselves duringidenticalperiodsoftime"([1897] 1951, p. 300).2 The historian science GeorgeSartonhas recordedthatSur of l'homme "was one of thegreatest books ofthenineteenth century" (1935, p. 4) and that"a greatinjustice made whenComteis called thefounder is ofsociology, Quetelethas better for claimsto thistitle thanhe" (p. 14; see also Landau and Lazarsfeld 1968). My concern hereis not,though, withQuetelet's largely unheralded role in the founding sociologyas such. That unfinished of task is largerand moreambitious thanmine.In whatfollows, restrict I myself outlining to This contribution theorigins positivist to of Quetelet's criminology.3 conhas never properly been acknowledged.The principal tribution, also, of biographies Quetelet(Mailly 1875; Hankins 1908; Lottin[1912] 1969) werewritten nearly100 yearsago, and noneof themhas his criminology as its explicit focus.None of Quetelet'swritings crimewas translated on fortheprestigious seriesof European workspublishedbetween1911and 1918 underthe auspices of the AmericanInstitute CriminalLaw and of NeitherQuetelet nor any othermemberof the FrancoCriminology.4 of in Belgian school of criminology the 1830s was represented Mann-

and findings the moralstatisticians that of principles, methodology, empirical and work moral-statistical of all . . Quetelet's l'homme Sur was "themostinfluential (1967,p. 11; see also Giddens1965,pp. 3-4). existence of Fromtheoutset, me admitthatI do notwishto debatetheputative let to of This of relative thestudy crime. somegenuine, correct description "positivist" as termis nowadaysso frequently abused thatit tendsto be best understood an epithet-a weapon-directedagainstthosewithwhomone has politicalor episaccording to has each ofwhich, temological disagreement. Positivism severalforms, of By as its context object,can be moreor less appropriate a method inquiry. and on I refer to aboutcrime is predicated that "positivist criminology," loosely a discourse harmony between methods thenatural the of and thebelief there a fundamental that is indepensocialsciences, discourse categories theory as a thatviewsitsobservational in of dentand thatrequires specific a form empirical of inquiry support itsargumentation.Such a description positivism its limitations, course,but it has the has of of himself subscribed. singular merit beingtheone to whichQuetelet of 4 The ModernCriminal ScienceSeriesincludedworksby de Quiros,Gross,LomGarofalo, Aschaffenburg. and broso,Saleilles,Ferri,Tarde, Bonger, 1141

2 Douglashas evensuggested from the Durkheim's Suicidediffered indegree only that

American Journalof Sociology heim's(1972) Pioneersin Criminology, important an biographical collection that containsessays on lesserfigures, such as Maconochie and de Marsangy. Taylor, Walton, and Young's (1973, p. 37) celebratedThe New Criminology of refers briefly Queteletbut thenonlyin terms the to unsubstantiated assertion that Queteletand his colleagueA. M. Guerry largelyeffected transition penology the in from freewill to determinism (see also Radzinowicz 1966, pp. 29-37). In the mostrecenthistories of criminological theory (e.g., Gibbons 1979;Jacoby1979;Pelfrey 1980),no mention all is made of Quetelet. at The sustainedneglectof Quetelet'swork on crimecan in part be explained, somewhatironically, the thrustof the cursory by recognition accordedhimby Americancriminologists the 1930s.At thattime,two in specific claims were made about his work. First,it was claimed (e.g., Lindesmithand Levin 1937, pp. 654-55; Sellin 1937) that Quetelet, ratherthan Lombroso,had been responsible rescuingthe studyof for crimefromthe mireof metaphysics and elevatingit to the statusof a science and, somewhatparadoxically,that the tradition establishedby both the standardsand the Quetelet gave Lombroso's contemporaries evidenceto criticize and rejectatavisticideas of theborncriminal.5 Secit was claimed (e.g., Elmer 1933; and see Morris1957, pp. 37-52) ond, thatQueteletand Guerry or of werethefounders, perhapstheprecursors, theecologicalschoolin crime.Both claimshave somemerit. is true,for It such as Tarde, example, that the strongest criticsof Lombrosianism, Topinard, Manouvrier, and Lacassagne, marshaled their evidence abouttheeffects withgeneralizations againsttheidea oftheborncriminal of the social environment criminality. is also true that, in some on It respects, Queteletand Guerry anticipated workofecologicaltheorists the a century the context later.However,bothclaimstendto ignore historical of and thustheoriginality Quetelet'sown analysisofcrime.The effect of in thefirst claim was to characterize Quetelet'sintervention criminology as merely The effect the second claim was to make of pre-Lombrosian. Quetelet'simportance hingeon the success of the ecologicalmovement thatmaturedin Chicago in the 1930s, and of which,in fact,Guerryrather as than Quetelet-was usuallyidentified the precursor Shaw (see tend and McKay [1942],p. 5). Bothclaims,therefore, to render Quetelet's specific analysisof crimeinvisibleor, at best, derivative. is to My intention here,therefore, chiefly identify Quetelet'sparticular This I do by (1) an contribution the rise of positivistcriminology. to
5 The intellectualmaturationof Lombroso's idea of the born criminalhas been charted in great detail by Wolfgang (1972). An excellent account of the "medicalization of deviance" implicit in this idea, and also of the various oppositional currentsto it (especially in France), is given by Nye (1984, pp. 97-131).

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Quetelet outline of the historicalcontextof the genesis of Quetelet's oeuvre, namely, conjunction theapparentfailure Frenchpenal strategies the of of and the expansionin the scope of the statistical movement include to empirical social research; a summary Quetelet'smethodof inquiry (2) of and of thestructure content his criminology; (3) an indication and of and of the controversial reception his writings. of Finally,I offer tentative a assessment Quetelet'splace in the development positivist of of criminology. PENALITY AND THE MORAL STATISTICS OF CRIME Beforeproceeding any detailedexhumation Quetelet'scriminology, to of it is useful to place the genesis of his oeuvre in its properhistorical context.The emergence positivist of in criminology early 19th-century France shouldinitially understood an important be as effect thetransof formation penal strategies in in some spheresand thatoccurred, rapidly gradually others, in betweenthemiddleof the 18thand thebeginning of the 19thcenturies. Beforethistransformation, weretheamorphous there of penal strategies theancienregime.These weredictatedby a discourse couched in rhetoric about the freelegal subject, the transgressions of whom were dealt with by the infliction brutalphysicalpunishment. of The spectrum the new penal strategies of had at its center network a of carceralinstitutions inscribedwith Enlightenment rationalism and the humanism thephilosophes. of These institutions weredevisedas mechanismsofsurveillance wereintended act withthesame monotonous and to precision their on individualsubjectsas theschool,thebarracks, and the monastery.6 Their growing inventory includedhospitals, workasylums, houses (depo6ts mendicite'), de reformatories, houses of correction, and prisons.7 Their "delinquent" and "pathological" inmates comprised
6 In the Napoleonic era, these strategies operated in concertwith a new criminalcode (with additional categories of delinquency), a professionalgendarmerie,a systemof passport and identitycards, and an extensive networkof paid informers and spies directed by the notorious Minister of Police, Fouche (Foucault 1979, p. 280; Stead 1983, pp. 47-48). 7 The modernprisonsystemwas inauguratedby imperialdecree in 1810. Althoughthe socioeconomic characteristics the prison population were not collected in any sysof tematicway until the 1870s, it is safe to assume that, until at least the 1850s, 80% of prisonerswere young, unmarried males fromthe skilled or unskilled workingclass (O'Brien 1982, pp. 54-61). Excluding militaryprisons (bagnes) and debtors' prisons, the Restorationestablished at least fivecategoriesof prison, each based on a complex classificationof inmates (see O'Brien 1982, pp. 3-51; Petit 1984). Strategically,the prisons isolated delinquents from the law-abiding citizenry;the development of agriculturalcolonies, transportation, and the galleys carried this strategyto its logical extreme.

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American Journalof Sociology syphilitics, alcoholics, idiots and eccentrics,vagabonds, immigrants, theirstated criminals; and libertines, prostitutes, pettyand professional of throughthe deprivation liberty. objective was moral rehabilitation as described "thepowerofnormalization" This project beenvariously has of (Foucault 1979, p. 308), "the fabrication a reliableperson"(Treiber of and Steinert1980), and "the sequestration unreason"(Doerner 1981, pp. 14-17). Foucault (1980, pp. 47-49) has proposed,in passagesuncharacteristiccriminology which (of that ally redolentof instrumentalism, positivist in emerged Francein the 1820sas a Queteletwas to be theleadingfigure) disand comprehensive calculated responseto the need for an official of coursethat could justify thesenew strategies penality.But thisview the between an (or assumes,a priori, identity at least a complementarity) such a discourseand intentions those,like Quetelet,who constructed of true, tlieconsciousobjectivesof Frenchpenal policy.Even ifultimately such an assumptiondoes littleto illuminatefor us eitherthe specific that and maneuvers content thisdiscourse thetheoretical conceptual or of from wereto characterize periodofitsadolescence.Whileit emerged this the state and as a state practice,criminology was not an unmediated AgainstFoucault,it can be said that of expression stateor class interests. unrethe of emerged from intersection twohitherto positivist criminology criminology Fromthedomainofpenality, lateddomainsofstateactivity. secured an institutional position,a measure of financialsupport,and Fromthedomainof in considerable popularinterest itspronouncements. orientation thestatistical acquireditsintellectual movement, criminology of techcommunity its major discursive and recognition the scientific by twodomainswerealmostentirely niques. The manysitesofeach ofthese separate until, duringthe Restoration(1814-30), theycoincidedin a the commonissue. This issue was the apparentfailure normalize conto duct of the "dangerousclasses."8 That the new penal strategies had significantly failed to do so was in of apparentin threeways. First,it was implicit the veryexistence a thieves(les mise'rables)-a separate largegroupof poor, semiproletarian amongthem presence nationwithin Frenchnation-whose continued the represented fearfulaffrontto the sensibilitiesof the law-abiding a that citizenry. Fregier(1840; see also Chevalier 1973, p. 448) estimated Balzac's Code thesole meansofsupport 30,000Parisianswas robbery; for
8 The "dangerous classes"(classesdangereuses) a term was thatfirst appeared during theRestoration, although was notpopularized it until Fregier's (1840)classicstudy of urbancriminality. Tombs(1980)provides goodaccount thestock a of moral categories on whichtheterm was constructed ofthewaysin which was often and it invoked to justify military repression.

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Quetelet des genshonnetes recorded thattherewere 20,000 professional criminals and as many as 120,000 "rogues" in Restoration Paris. To a certain extent,the social visibility the dangerousclasses was an intractable of effect the new demographic of France. This composition Restoration of was mostobviousin urbanareas such as Paris. Despite a doublingof its populationin the half century after1800, Paris remainedstructurally intact.It is notdifficult imaginehow quicklythisimmense to population increase, so relatively in short period,led to a far-reaching a social deterioration,which was manifest the incidenceof infantmortality in and problems sanitation of and sewage, accommodation, foodsupplies,employment, public order,and crime.According Chevalier,the sudden to change in Paris's populationwas such that the city'sinability adapt to itself itsnew composition to relegated largepartoftheworking a class "to the furthest confines the economy,of societyand almostof existence of in itself, material, moraland, basically,biologicalcircumstances conducive to crime,of which crimeitself was a possibleconsequence"(1973, p. 258). The new prominence crimein thedescription urbanlifein France of of can be attributed the fearof the criminality the dangerousclasses to of thatenduredat all levels of Frenchsociety throughout 19thcentury. the Chevalier(1973) depictsRestoration Paris as a cityin whichthecitizenry in were engrossed reports crimeas one of theirnormaldaily worries; of duringcertaincold wintersof destitution, fear of crimeturnedto the in panic and terror. Reportsof crimewere ubiquitously conveyed newspapers and eagerlydevouredby readers;in some cases, such as in the sensational accountsofthepoliceinformer (and ex-thief) Vidocq and the into morbidfascination. poet-bandit Lacenaire, fear was transformed and typicalliterary Hugo's Les Mise'rables was a brilliant exampleof the fearful attitudetowardcrimein general;otherauthors,such as Balzac, depictedthe fear of specific formsof crime,such as theft domestic by servants.Popular melodramasabout crimewere regularly stagedin the exacerBoulevard du Temple. This widespreadfearof crimewas itself bated by working-class insurrections, and, as Tombs (1980, p. 214) has suggested,it quickly became an unquestionedtenet of middle-class of thought thatcrimeand revolution were symptoms thesame disease.9 In thepublicconcern withcrime, centrality thedangerous the of classes was fixed two further by facts.First,in 1815and forseveralyearstherein a This offenses. after, suddenincreasewas recorded therateof felony of increase occurredprimarily theftand disturbances public order in
9 In turn, this assumption led to extreme harshness on the part of juries-whose bourgeois in origin-toward those compositionin the 19th centurywas thoroughly accused of ordinarypropertycrimes (see Donovan 1981).

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Journalof Sociology American (Wright1983, pp. 48-50; Duesterberg1979, pp. 29-31); between1813 and 1820 alone, the numberof convictionsin the criminaltribunals was theincreasA doubled.10 secondand even moredecisivefactor nearly object theseimpliedthatthestatedrehabilitative ingratesof recidivism; to had of thecarceralinstitutions failed.It is difficult knowwhat degree before 1835,but of to ofaccuracycan be attributed thefigures recidivism muchindignaand they generated about themwas rampant, thepublicity rate in the mid 1820s,the statistical tion. Indeed, about the recidivism conthat"[itwas] without of laterstressed organof theMinistry Justice part of the Comptebecause it revealsthe the tradiction mostimportant (Compte genand of inefficacy repression theinadequacyof punishment" accounts,therateof to eral 1882, p. 83). According othercontemporary of between1828and 1834was 21% or moreofthoseconvicted recidivism crimesduringthis time; before 1831, 38% of those who had leftthe were convictedagain, as were 33% of thosesentenced maisonscentrales 1979,p. 89). During to convictships(Foucault 1979,p. 265; Duesterberg rateswere as highas 45% theJulyMonarchy(1830-48), the recidivism (Wright1983, p. 50). had That the carceral institutions failed to normalizethe dangerous and fascinated at confirmed, least for a fearful classes was therefore the yearsof during first therising ratesofcrimeand recidivism public,by writesFoucault, "In 1820 it was alreadyunderstood," Restoration. the serveonly criminals citizens, into far transforming "thattheprisons, from ever deeper criminals and drive existing to manufacture new criminals for condition was theessential (1980, p. 40). This failure intocriminality" the appearance of a vast corpus of studies, instigatedboth by state that sought to uncover the vital bureaus and by private researchers, sincethe 16th of classes."1It had been understood statistics thedangerous
10 These increases in recorded criminality can be explained in part by the turbulent transition peace afterNapoleon's finalmilitary to defeatin 1815. During the 1820s, the recordeda decrease in the crimerate, and thisofficial recordis generComptege'ne'ral ally supported by Lodhi and Tilly (1973) and Tilly, Tilly, and Tilly (1975). However, Zehr (1976) has more persuasivelyargued thatthe decliningofficial rate was deceptive because of the increasingtendencyof prosecutorsnot to follow throughon reportsof crime and for propertycrimes to be tried in lower courts as misdemeanors-trends later identifiedand condemned by Tarde (1886, pp. 61-121). Combining data from correctionaland assize courts, Zehr (1976, pp. 34-43, 146 n. 11) reveals a significant increase in all indices of propertycrime except arson. " Among the vital conditionsof the population now subject to regularstate scrutiny were mortality,age, occupation, disease, and indigence. At the suggestion of the administration prefectorale the Seine, supportedby the Ministry the Interiorand of of in administeredby Fourier, the disseminationof these data was institutionalized 1821 in theRecherchesstatistiquesde la ville de Paris. On the "openingup" of the statistical movement during the Restoration, see Faur6 (1918, pp. 289-91), Chevalier (1973, pp. 29-69), and Porter (1985).

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Quetelet century thesurveillance exposure criminals that and of couldbe servedby enumeration, it was not untilthisprecisejuncturethatthe applicabut tionof numerical analysisto penality achievedthe statusof an accepted sciencewhoseobjectwas thestructured orderofobservable facts:"Facts, based upon direct observationand preferably expressednumerically, would decide all questions"(Coleman 1982, p. 123).12 Statistical inquiry into the dangerousclasses began with the circumscribed populationof prisoners. Several quasi-governmental, philanthropic, religiousorand ganizationsbegan to investigate prisonconditions withthe intention of rejuvenating moralhealthof theprisoners. 1819,forexample,the the In Socie'te'royale pour l'ame'lioration prisons reportedon such items des as the quality of prison construction, diet, clothing,bedding, and infirmaries. factualinformation The providedby theseorganizations was supplemented the inquiriesof independent by investigators fromthe publichealth(hygiene of publique)movement, leadingfigures which the includedde Chateauneuf, Parent-Duchatelet, Villerme. 1820,Viland In lerme'sDes prisons,forexample,pointedto thestatistical linksbetween gruesome prisonconditions, moraldegradation, recidivism; and incarceration itself, otherwords,was now thought increasethe size of that in to sectionof the dangerousclasses that was continually shuttled between civil society and prison. In mostoftheinquiries intoprisonconditions, questionwas invarione ably present: "Should (or could) theprisoners returned society be to and, ifso, how?" (Petit1984,p. 137). The resolution thisquestioncould not of be obtained,it was soon realized,withinformation derivedexclusively from factsaboutprisonconditions. the Froma narrow focuson theprison population, soon broadenedto consider larger the then,theinquiry populationthatpassed through successivelayersof theadministration jusof tice. Withinthis broaderinquirythe most important ocdevelopment curredin 1825, the year that the Ministry Justiceinitiatedthe first of nationalstatistical tables on crime,the annual Comptege'ne'ral l'adde ministration la justice criminelle France. The Comptewas first de en publishedin 1827 underthe efficient direction Guerry Champneuf of de (directorof criminalaffairs)and Arondeau (department head in the
12 Priorto the Restoration, the nascentstatistical movement been discredited had becauseofitsuse as a nakedinstrument political of surveillance, especially between theReignofTerror and theend oftheempire. According Chevalier to (1973,p. 49), thecensus similar and state projects werecommonly regarded thinly as veiledattempts bythepolicetoidentify suspects; very the announcement a census of unleashed wave a ofdenunciations. theprofessional institutional On and setbacks thestatistical of movementpriorto the Restoration, Westergaard see (1932, pp. 114-16) and Perrot and Woolf(1984);on its insulation from mathematical untiltheRestoration, theory see

Porter(1985).

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American Journalof Sociology Ministry Justice),immediately of aftera winterin which the rates of crimeand death increasedequally and duringwhich public fear and and terror throughout Paris werethemainthemes policereports newsof paper articles(Chevalier 1973, p. 3). The Comptewas drawn up from in returns quarterly preparedby public prosecutors everydepartement. These wereitemized, uniformly printed, and checkedforaccuracybythe in chiefadministrator criminalprosecutors Paris. The tables in the of in includedall prosecutions Compte weredividedintofourparts:thefirst the assize courts;the second, the verdictsof correctional the tribunals; third,the verdictsof the tribunals the police courts;and the fourth, of other statistical information about thecriminal processfrom jurisdictions suchas theroyalcourts.For each departement, Compte the measured the annual numberof known and prosecutedcrimesagainst personsand property, whether accused (ifprosecuted) the wereacquittedor convicted as well as the punishment it accorded the latter;additionally, began to recordthetimeof yearwhentheseoffenses and werecommitted theage, sex, occupation,and educationalstatusof both accused and convicted. Information about repeatoffenders became moreand moredetailedwith each successive year of publication,and new tables were constantly added on thecorrelations betweenthenatureof offenses thecharacand teristics the accused.13 of Both theMinistry Justice of believed and a groupofsocial statisticians thatthedata, or "facts,"in thesetablescould one day be used to perfect legislationin civil and moral matters.In his introduction the first to volumeof the Compte,Minister Justice Comtede Peyronnet declared of that"theexact knowledge factsis one of thefirst of of needs of our form it it government; enlightens deliberations; simplifies them;it givesthema solidfoundation substituting positive of the visionand reliability expeby rienceforthevaguenessoftheories" (Compte1827,p. x). The disseminationof the Comptewas quicklyfollowedby the labors of a looselyknit, somewhatamateurmovement moralstatisticians, of whichincludedthe Parisian lawyerand social cartographer M. Guerry; statisticians A. the Villerme, d'Angeville, and d'Ivernois;the Italian geographer Balbi; and in the youngBelgian astronomer Quetelet.It is to Quetelet'simmersion 14 thismovement thatI now turn.
The various deposits into and the infrequent withdrawalsfromthe Comptebetween 1827 and the 1880s are chronicledby Perrot(1975, pp. 70-81). 14 The reader should be made aware that, in the following account of Quetelet's criminology,virtuallyno referencewill be made to any of his writingsafter 1848, includinghis widely acclaimed Physique sociale (1869). Despite Quetelet's continued propensityto publish, his work after 1848 contains no departures from his earlier analyses of crime; indeed, as Quetelet himselflater recorded,"In publishingthe first edition of my Physique sociale, in 1834 and 1835, I believed it necessary to give a
13

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Quetelet QUETELET AND THE SOCIAL MECHANICS OF CRIME At the age of 23, Queteletreceiveda doctorate sciencefrom new in the University Ghent.His 1819dissertation, of written undertheguidanceof Jean Garnier,a notedprofessor astronomy of and highermathematics, was an important and widely acclaimed contribution the theory to of conic sections.One of Garnier'scolleagues went so far as to compare Quetelet'sdiscovery a new curvewithPascal's discovery a cycloid of of (Hankins 1908,p. 455). Laterin thesameyear,Quetelet was appointed to a chairin mathematics the BrusselsAthenaeum. quick succession, In at he was, in 1820, elected to and at once revived the moribundRoyal Academyof Sciences in Brussels,servedas editor,withGarnier,of the influential Correspondance et mathematique physique, and helped to createtheliberal(and soon-to-be suppressed) SocieteBelgepourla propagationde l'instruction de la morale. Quetelet'sTraitepopulaired'aset tronomie, falselyrumoredto have been placed on the Catholic Index Librorum Prohibitorum, contributed thespreadthroughout to Europe of populareducationin astronomy. Social Mechanicsand the AverageMan These earlyachievements theyoungQueteletin astronomy matheof and maticsservedas intellectual to preparation his seminalcontribution for thenew discourseof social mechanics (mecaniquesociale). The opportunityforthiswas providedby the Royal Academy,which,in 1823, sent himto Paris to studyastronomical apparatuseswitha view-vague and oftenpostponed-toward erecting observatory Brussels.'5It was in an
special place to criminal statistics.I have found, to a striking degree, the most conspicuous proof of the confirmation my ideas about the size and the constancyof of social regularities.. . . Today I do not thinkthat I have to change any of my conclusions" (1869, p. 269). Hankins has noted that, afterQuetelet suffered strokein 1855, a his writings"needed the most thoroughrevision.... His books published after1855, in so far as [they are] new in composition, are full of ambiguous or unintelligible phrases, ill-arranged and very repetitious" (1908, pp. 473-74). Actually, repetitiousnesshad set in well beforethe date marked by Hankins; forexample, except for the addition of some paragraphs on suicides and dueling, Quetelet's (1842) Treatise on

Ages ([1831a] 1984). Moreover, the sections on crime in Physique sociale (1869) only reiterate work published threedecades earlier ([1831a] 1984, 1835); the titlewas but a reversal of the titleand subtitleof Sur l'homme(1835), and even the introduction to Physique sociale, by the English astronomerSir John Herschel, had previouslyappeared in the Edinburgh Review in 1850. 15 This was a difficult period foremigreBelgian intellectuals,marked as it was by the effective submission of Belgium to Franco-Dutch rule and the cultural dominance of the French intelligentsia. Quetelet's interest in social mechanics was probably

Man merely repeats content Research thePropensityfor the of on Crime Different at

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Journalof Sociology American duringhis monthsin Paris on this missionthat Queteletwas first introduced theastronomers by Bouvard and Humboldtto variouscurrents in thestatistical movement Quetelet1871).FromtheGermanadmin(see istrative Statistik,fromthe Frenchsocial reformism Condorcetand of Turgot (among others),and fromthe English political"state-istics" of Grauntand Petty,he learnedof the generalpotential theapplication for of enumeration social matter to (matiere sociale). From Malthus'sEssay on Population, Villerme'sDes prisons,Fourier'sstatistical researchon Paris and its environsin the early 1820s,and, above all, from work the of his friendand mentor,Laplace, on celestialmechanics(mecanique and on the methodof celeste),on the principles probabilistic of theory, least squares, Queteletlearned how to apply algebra and geometry to demographictables.'6 On his returnto Belgium fromParis in 1824, of statistical work(1826) Queteletengagedin a variety projects.His first utilizedBelgian birthand mortality tables as the basis forthe constructionof insurancerates. Soon thereafter, publishedstudiesin physics, he and mathematics, furnished commentary Dutch demoa on astronomy, graphicpolicies,and submitted plans in Belgiumfora nationalcensus and the collection crimestatistics. of In theseearlyworks,Queteletattempted reveal thatthe same lawto like,mechanicalregularity had been determined existin theheavthat to ens and in the world of naturealso existedin the world of social facts the (faitssociaux). "In following attentively regularmarchof naturein the developmentof plants and animals," Quetelet reasoned, "we are of compelledto believein theanalogue thattheinfluence laws shouldbe of extended thehumanspecies"(1826, p. 495). The identification such to laws in thesocial worldwas dependent statistical "We can on calculation: it assess how perfected sciencehas becomebyhow muchor how little is a
intensified theBelgiannationalist by movement, there no compelling but is evidence thathe was activein either Belgianor French politics. However, frequently he commented theprofessional on hardships himself for many for and his proteges brought on bythe1830revolution Porter (see 1985,p. 58). 16 It is very tempting suggest to thatthegeneral direction social-scientific for analysis had beengleaned Quetelet by from writers suchas Saint-Simon theyoung and Comte. Butno references either to appeared anyofhisearly in works. The absence Comte of is especially puzzling, and, although Lottin(1912,pp. 356-67) correctly pointsto the fundamental differences between them, is difficult believethatQuetelet not it to had beeninfluenced workssuchas Comte's Plan des travaux by necessaires scientiJfiques pourre'organisersocie'te' la (1822).Possibly under Fourier's guidance, Quetelet adopted Comte's term socialeas thesubtitle hisSur l'homme of physique (1835).Later,in his Coursde philosophie the of of positive,Comteprotested usurpation the discipline socialphysics "a Belgianscholar by of whohas adopted inrecent it, years, thetitle a as workwhoseconcern merely is force statistics" simple (1838,p. 15).Thusdid Quetelet Comteto invent neologism the "sociology." 1150

Quetelet based on calculation"(Quetelet 1828, p. 230). This ambitiousproject Quetelettermedsocial mechanics(later,in 1835, social physics), and he identified inexactitude methodbut insufficiency empirical not in of data as the chiefobstacle to its realization.Human forceswere notoriously susceptible the influence "secularperturbations"; to of onlya verylarge numberof empiricalobservations could reducethe perturbing effect of in variation a particular datumand thereby disclosetheaggregate nature of social regularities. At first, Queteletsoughttheseregularities relatively in uncomplicated data thatweresubjectto predictable variation and thatcouldbe observed directly: mortality of rates,the heights 100,000Frencharmyconscripts, and thechestmeasurements 5,738 Scottish of soldiers.Fromhis observations,Quetelet(1826, 1829; see also [183la] 1984,pp. 3-11; 183 lb; 1842, pp. 57-72) calculated the average weightand heightof his subjects, cross-tabulated thesewithsex, age, occupation, and geographical region, and thensubmitted thesecorrelations the perturbational to influence of such factorsas "the difficulties, toils and privations in experienced infancy,youthand infirmity." average value of any given scale was The thoughtby Quetelet to be more accurate, the greaterthe numberof In empiricalobservations. combination, theseaverage values produced an image of a fictitious, derived creaturewhom Quetelet statistically termedthe average man. "If the averageman were ascertained one for nation,he would presentthe typeof that nation. If he could be ascertained accordingto the mass of men, he would present typeof the the humanspecies altogether" ([1831a] 1984, p. 3). The average man therefore occupieda place amongall menthatQuetelet envisagedas analogous to the centerof gravity matter.His calculationof physicalaverages in was undertaken preparation the extension social mechanicsto as for of thevitalphenomena moralstatistics, of to namely, suicide,marriage, and crime. 1 The Constancyof Crime Queteletclaimedthatthe enumeration the vital phenomenaof moral of statistics was morecomplexthanthe measurement nonvital,physical of
17 According Durkheim to (1897, p. 300 n. 1), the founder moralstatistics of was PastorSussmilch. Among Franco-Belgian the statisticians,was mostlikely it Guerry who first appliedtheterm thephenomena crime.ContraLottin to of (1912,p. 37), Quetelet explicitly first appliedit to hisown workin 1842(1842,pp. 79-80);here,he urgedthatmoralstatistics expandedto includewitchcraft be practices, and torture, execution religious for reasons, wellas political religious as and fanaticism various of sorts. theseitems, To Quetelet (1869,pp. 232-368)lateradded intellectual faculties, mental illness (alienation), alcoholism, dueling, and accidental death.

1151

American of Journal Sociology items.Vital phenomenawere morecomplexnot onlyin theirindividual identities therefore theircomparability also, and moreimporand in but tant,because theyemanatedfrom "certain forces which[man]has at his commandfromhis freewill" (Quetelet[1831a] 1984, p. 3). Because human actionis volitional behavior,Queteletsuggested thatit is reasonable to supposethatthevolumeofcrimewould varyfrom yearto another one accordingto human caprice. This would especiallyseem to be true of in unpremeditated crimes-murders,forexample,committed a quarrel or in fortuitous circumstances. However, Queteletimmediately warns that to argue that the human species is not subject to laws "would be moreoffensive the divinity to whichwe intend thantheveryresearch to do" ([1831a] 1984, p. 5). This metaphysical assertionwas first elaborated by Queteletin his memoire, Researchon thePropensityfor Crimeat Different Ages([183la] 1984). While being carefulto pointout thatsocial mechanicscan never pretend discoverlaws thatcan be verified isolatedindividuals, to for he statesthat-when observedindirectly a greatscale through prism on the of statisticalartifactssuch as the Compte-the phenomenaof crime 18 nevertheless resemblethe patterned behaviorof physicalphenomena. This insight,as we shall see, was to cause Quetelet'scontemporaries considerable warnedthat"thisway discomfort. Indeed, Quetelethimself of lookingat the social systemhas something positiveabout it which must,at first, frighten certainminds. Some will see in it a tendency to in interpreting ideas badly, will findtherean materialism. Others, my to exaggerated pretention aggrandize domainoftheexactsciences the and to place the geometrician an element in whichis not his own. They will reproachme forbecominginvolvedin absurd speculations while being occupied with things which are not susceptibleto being measured" ([1831a] 1984, p. 4). Quetelet'sunderstanding the data in the Compte of reveals considerable sophistication his era. Followingde Candolle's for (1830) short treatiseon criminalstatistics,Quetelet argues that any

18 Quetelet to thisresemblance, his was thefirst moralstatistician suggest although priority disputed A. M. Guerry. was by Therewas considerable personal animosity between Quetelet and Guerry, exampleof whichappearsat theend of thethird an bookofA Treatise Man, whichwas directed on againstGuerry's Essai surla statistiquemoralede la France (1833). Here, Quetelet writes about his discovery the of constancy crime:"As thisidea has continually of presented itself me in all my to researches man,and,as I haveexactly on expressed inthesameterms those the it as of text,in my conclusions theRecherches le penchant crime, workthat on sur au a I it appeareda yearbefore thatofA. M. Guerry, have thought necessary mention to thepoint here,to prevent misunderstanding" p. 96). See also Quetelet's (1842, (1842, comment thatGuerry p. 79) unnecessary paid insufficient attention documentary to sources.

1152

Quetelet scientific analysis of crime must assume "a relationship pretty nearly invariable between offenses known judged and theunknown and sumtotal ofoffenses committed" ([183la] 1984,p. 17). The size ofthisrelationship, he suggested, would depend on the seriousness offenses of and on "the activity justicein reaching guilty, thecarewhichtheselatter of the on will take in hidingthemselves, and on the repugnance whichwrongedindiin viduals will feelin complaining, on the ignorance whichtheyperor haps will be concerningthe wrong which has been done to them" (Quetelet[1831a] 1984, p. 18). Queteletargued that, if the causes that influence thisrelationship in remainthe same, thentheirrepresentation official statistics would remain constant;in a later studyin Belgium, Quetelet([1848a] 1984, pp. 19-20; see also Houchon 1976,p. 25) found a constantrelationship between crimesknown and crimessubject to judicial prosecution between1833 and 1839. That the ratioof unknown crimesto recordedcrimeswas, in practice,constantQueteletinferred from astonishing the regularity thecrimeratesbetween1826and 1829 in (see table 1). In addition to the constancyin the annual numberof accused and convicted and in theratiosofaccused to convicted, accused to inhabitof ants, and of crimeagainstpersonsto crimesagainstproperty, Quetelet in also pointsto regularities thenumberof accused who failedto appear in the tribunals, the numberof convictions different in in typesoftribunals, and in the numberof convictssentenced death,confinement, or to forcedlabor for a term. Even the different methodsof murderwere shown to be constant fromone year to another.He therefore concludes that onepasses of from year theother one to with sad perspectiveseeing the the in samecrimes and with the reproduced thesameorder bringing them same in of The penalties thesameproportions. condition thehuman Sad species! share prisons, of and fixed as much with chains, thescaffold appears probain as of how bility therevenues thestate. areabletoenumerate advance We many individuals stain will fellow their hands with bloodoftheir the creahow will how as tures, many be forgers, many poisoners, pretty nearly one in can enumerate advancethebirths deaths and which must takeplace.
[Quetelet(183la) 1984, p. 69]

CriminalPropensities and the Causes of Crime The apparentconstancy crimeratesrecorded the Compte of in suggested to Queteletthat,whateverthe idiosyncrasies humanagency,criminal of behaviorobeyedlaws ofthesame orderas thosethatregulate motion the of inanimateobjects. The disproportionate and relentless presenceof certain in categories theComptebetween1826and 1829also indicated to Queteletthatyoungmales,thepoor,theless educated,and thosewithout 1153

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Quetelet employment in lowlyoccupations or had a greater propensity (penchant) thanothers commit to crimesand to be convicted them. These data of 19 seemed to enable Queteletto take issue with several conventional accountsof the factors that precipitated crime.In particular, adduced he thatneither presenceof poverty the absence of formal the nor education warranted monolithic the causal importance commonly claimedforthem. Againstthose who assertedthe inevitableassociationof povertywith crime,Quetelet([1831a] 1984, pp. 37-38; 1842, p. 89) pointedout that some of thepoorestareas in France (e.g., Creuse)and in theLow Countries(e.g., Luxembourg)had among the lowestcrimerates;both areas also had among the highestrates of illiteracy. a Far more influential factorthan absolute povertywas the perturbing effect inequalityin of wealth. Where great richesare amassed by a few, when an economy from suddenly fluctuates, whenthousands individuals and of pass rapidly to one stateto well-being misery, "These are theroughalternations from if another from them thatgive birth crime,especially thosewho suffer to are surrounded subjectsoftemptation find by and themselves irritated by the continualview of luxuryand of an inequality fortune of whichdisheartens them"(Quetelet[183la] 1984, p. 38). Moreover,againstthose who arguedthatthe growth public educationweakenedcriminal of prostates" pensities, Queteletdisclosedthat thosewith higher"intellectual tendedto commit crimes a relatively of moreviolent nature,suchas rape and murder. was thusan errorto suppose thata country It would have fewercrimessimplybecause more childrenare sent to school thereor because moreofthepopulationis literate; departments withthelowthe est literacy rates,forexample,tendedto have onlyaverage crimerates. However, to those who inferred fromthis that public education was harmful society(see Porter1985, p. 55), Queteletpointed potentially to out that,among the educated, the mosteducated did not commitrelativelymorecrimes.It was not, therefore, educationas such thataltered the propensity crimebut the type of educationand the presenceor to absence of "moralinstruction" (Quetelet[1831a] 1984, p. 37). For Quetelet,thedata in theCompte impliedthatthetwo factors most prominently associated withcriminalpropensities were age and sex. In table 2, he tabulatedcrimesaccordingto the ages of theirperpetrators
19 It is important notethatQuetelet's to inferences aboutcriminal propensities were drawn exclusively thedataintheCompteor,as criminologists Goring from from (1913) onwardwould say, froma single-cell design.While Quetelet(e.g., [1831a] 1984, pp. 53, 58) was aware of the need to comparethe social characteristics the of population theComptewith in those thegeneral of population, was a comparison it he never made. Moreover, Quetelet's representation theobstacles sucha compariof to son-and ofitssignificance coulditbe made-was consistently confined a methodto ologicalrather thana theoretical realm.

1155

American Journalof Sociology

TABLE 2
AGE AND THE PROPENSITY FOR CRIME,

1826-1829

Crimes against Crimesagainst Age Under 16 ......... 16-21 ............ 21-25 ............ 25-30 ............ 30-35 ............ 35-40 ............ 40-45 ............ 45-50 ............ 50-55 ............ 55-60 ............ 60-65 ............ 65-70 ............ 70-80 ............ 80 and over ....... Persons 80 904 1,278 1,575 1,153 650 575 445 288 168 157 91 64 5 Property 440 3,723 3,329 3,702 2,883 2,076 1,724 1,275 811 500 385 184 137 14 Property out of 100 Crimes 85 80 72 70 71 76 75 74 74 75 71 70 68 74 Population according to Ages 3,304 887 673 791 732 672 612 549 482 410 330 247 255 55

Degrees of the Propensity forCrime 161 5,217 6,846 6,671 5,514 4,057 3,757 3,133 2,280 1,629 1,642 1,113 788 345

SOURCE.-Quetelet ([183la] 1984, p. 56).

in and dividedthenumber crimes thepopulation therespective of by age groups. Results show the propensity committing for crime at various is of ages. This propensity at its weakest at both extremes life-in infancy,neither strength passion ("thosetwo powerful nor instruments of is crime")is at all developed,and, in old age, their intensity restricted by the "dictatesof reason." The propensity crimeis at its strongest for betweenthe ages of 21 and 25-when strength passions are mostinand tense,and when reasonis insufficiently developedto restrain theircombined influence. Queteletperceivesa cyclicalpatternin his age-specific "steps in the career of crime" betweeninfancyand old age: physical immaturity allows onlyforcrimessuch as indecentassault and rape in whichthevictim offers little resistance; age ofdispassionate the reflection seeks moreorganizedcrimessuch as thefts thepublichighways, on murder by poisoning,and acts of rebellion; finally, usingthe littlestrength thatnaturehas lefthim, the elderlycriminal uses a depravedtreachery "to strikehis enemyin the shadow" through crimessuch as forgery and child molestation. were23 Queteletnotes(see table 3) that,between1826and 1829,there womenforevery100 men who appeared beforecriminal tribunals. He 1156

Quetelet
TABLE 3
SEX AND THE PROPENSITY CRIMES AGAINST PERSONS YEAR Men Women Relationship Men FOR CRIME,

1826-1829
CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY Women Relationship

1826 1827 1828 1829

......... ......... ......... .........

1,639 1,637 1,576 1,552

268 274 270 239

.16 .17 .17 .15

4,073 4,020 4,396 4,379

1,008 998 1,156 1,203

.25 .25 .26 .27

Average ...
SOURCE.-Quetelet

1,601

263

.16

4,217

1,091

.26

([1831a] 1984, p. 47).

propensities supposethatmale criminal suggests thatone could therefore thanthoseof women.But thesepropenfourtimesgreater wereroughly of seriousness sitiesdo notinform Queteletwarns,about thediffering us, notesthattheratio by thecrimescommitted each sex. Quetelettherefore crimeswas 26:100 but, forcrimes of womento men accused of property to the againstpersons,was only16:100. Assuming latter be moreserious thatFrenchmen were Queteletconcludes than crimesagainstproperty, to at least fourtimes more "criminal"than French women. In trying in criminality betweenFrenchmenand women,he explainthedifference of the together of arguedthatthecommission any crimerequires bringing to and a will(whichdependson morality), opportunity, theability act. an by Queteletpositedthe will of womenas moremotivated thesentiments of of shame and modesty than thatof men. Such an understanding will to would explainnotonlywomen'slowerpropensity crimein generalbut "As to infanticide, only not also theirhigherindulgencein infanticide. it to does a woman have moreopportunities commit thana man, butshe and almostalwaysbythe is in somewaysoften pushedintoit byhardship of desireto hide a mistakeand escape the shame and contempt society, whichspares the man more in similarcircumstances" (Quetelet[1831a] to 1984, p. 49). Moreover,women have less opportunity commitcrime less because theylead more retiring, passionatelives and are less often excited by alcohol; theirlesser abilityto act derivesfromtheirlesser for in withthatof menand is reflected, example,in strength comparison theirdifferential of parricide.20 rate
20

of attitude in was a reflection thelenient lack of visibility the Compte Women's womenwere moreoften the towardthemin the courtsthroughout 19thcentury; sentenced death. to and circumstances wererarely able successfully topleadmitigating (1975). raises,see Perrot that problems suchleniency explanatory On thedifficult 1157

American Journalof Sociology In his first studiesof crime,Queteletwas cautiousin drawingspecific in causal inferences from regularities the manifest theCompte because,he lamented,"The causes which influence crimeare so enormousand so diverse,thatit becomesalmostimpossible assignto each its degreeof to importance" (Quetelet[1831a] 1984, p. 37). Nevertheless, againstthose who employedeclectic ideas of causality,Quetelet suggestedthat the manycauses ofcrimecan be dividedintothree principal categories (1846, pp. 157-256). First,thereare accidentalcauses, to whichno probability can be assignedand whichare manifested and fortuitously are indifferent in theirdirection. Examples of theseincludewars, famines, and natural disasters. Quetelet understandstheir influencewithin a teleological schema and confines to "the orderof successionof events." Second, it thereare variable causes, such as freewill and personality, that can oscillatebetweengreater smallerlimits.These causes act in a continuor ous manner,althoughsome variable causes such as climateand the seasons operate only periodically.The intensity of and direction variable causes change as a resultof eitherdetermined laws or theirabsence. Finally, there are constantcauses, such as age, sex, occupation,and religion.These causes have a fixedprobability and act in a continuous mannerwiththe same intensity in the same direction; and evidencefor the predominance thisthirdcausal category of was adduced by Quetelet from constancy crimerates.Quetelet'sinsertion criminal the of of behaviorintoa formal structure causality of was a remarkable advance overthe ad hoc, eclecticspeculationsof his contemporaries. Even more signifiwithin thisformal is theshift his analysisto a different of cant, structure, level, whichallows himto claim that,because crimeis a constant, inevitable feature social organization, was society, of it or thenation France, itself that caused crime.Thus, "Every social statepresupposes, then,a certainnumberand a certainorderof crimes,these being merelythe necessary consequencesof its organization" (Quetelet1842, p. 6). Again, "The crimeswhichare annuallycommitted seemto be a necessary result ofour social organization.... Societyprepares are crime,and theguilty onlythe instruments which it is executed"(p. 108). Logic aside and by withthe considerable it advantagesof hindsight, can perhapsbe argued that Quetelet'sintuition that societycaused crimemarkeda profound theoretical fromthe crude realismof public opinion,classical departure and code and flewin thefaceoftheidea that jurisprudence, thecriminal criminals chose to engage in wickedness.But, because Quetelet's freely conceptof social organization was based on the idea of societyas an of aggregate individuals,his projections about thecausal nexusbetween social organization and crimeand of the way in which propensities to crimeweretranslated intocriminal convenactionsremained thoroughly tional.To understand aspectof his work,we mustreturn his idea this to 1158

Quetelet of the average man and the way in which,especiallyduringthe 1840s, thisconceptinfiltrated discourseon criminality. his The AverageMan and Social Regulation In his work of the 1820s and early 1830s, as we have seen, Quetelet the determined average values of the human physiqueand correlated thesewithsuch variablesas age and sex, withtheresult beinga descriptionof the bodilycharacteristics the average man in a givenpopulaof he tion. In the early 1840s,especiallyafter became acquaintedwiththe probabilistic errorfunction celestialmechanics,Queteletinsistedon in the need to presentnot onlythe mean of a scale of givencharacteristics butalso theupperand lowerlimits betweenwhichindividuals oscillated. Minor or "natural"variationaround the mean was then identified by no extraordiQueteletas deviationthatshouldattract unusualattention; naryvariation(e.g., the heightof giantsand dwarfs)he saw as "preternatural. . . monstrous" that (1842, p. x). In addition,Queteletperceived but variationaround the mean occurrednot randomly in a determinate in orderthatapproximated principle thenormaldistribution celesthe of tial mechanics(1846, p. 114; 1848b,p. ix). This principle, now surhe of mised,was also applicableto thedistribution all thenonphysical qualitiesof man. of to Quetelet'sapplicationof the principle normaldistribution crime presageda fundamental redirection his criminology led directly of and to his positinga rigidbinaryoppositionbetweenthe statistical mean and the "unusual" deviation.Although inferred he from normaldistribution that"everyman, therefore, a certainpropensity break the laws" has to (Quetelet 1848b, p. 94), it was also evidentto him that the criminal if propensities theaverageman wererarely, ever,translated crimiof into nal actions.Accordingly, dispositions individuals the of withpropensities at the mean were now imbued by Queteletwith the rhetoric their of to conformity law, medicaland psychological health,and moraltemperance. Quetelet'sinterpretation the Aristotelian of of differentia virtuein theNicomacheanEthics and ofVictorCousin's(1829)juste milieuin his Coursde l'histoire la philosophie de persuadedhimthattheaverageman was one who regularly chose the mean coursebetweenthe extremes of and excess. The virtuesof the average man thus comprised deficiency "rationaland temperate habits,moreregulated passions,[and] foresight, as manifested investment savingsbanks,assurancesocieties in and the by different institutions whichencourageforesight" (Quetelet1842, p. 78). With the noncriminality the average man, Queteletfrequently of juxtaposed the criminality vagabonds,vagrants,primitives, of gypsies, the "inferior classes," certainraces with"inferior moralstock,"and "persons 1159

AmericanJournalof Sociology of low moral character."With the virtuesof the average man, he juxtaposed the vices of those deviantswho engaged in crime.This latter his informs workof the 1840sand is found,for repeatedly juxtaposition and prudentpeople example, in his contrastbetween"an industrious one" (Quetelet1842, p. 41). The vices of [and] a depravedand indolent the thosewho deviatedfrom averageincluded"thepassionsforgambling of houses and low haunts . . . . . . failures. . . the frequenting coffee drunkenness" 78). In commonwith a widespreademphasison the (p. (Chevalier1973,pp. 437and biologicalbasis ofdemographic socialfacts was manifest morality 41), Queteletyieldedto thenotionthatunhealthy had highcriminal in biologicaldefectsand thatthosewithsuch defects (1842, pp. vi-vii). Crime,he concluded,was "a pestilential propensities hereditary" (Quetelet 1848b, germ . . . contagious . . . [sometimes] of was The practicaloutcomeof Quetelet'scriminology theapplication and of his binaryopposition normality devianceto the domainof penalwiththeapproachofthe thatbecame moreurgent ity.Withan insistence the identify causes Queteletdemandedthatgovernments 1848revolution, of of crime in order to reduce the frequency crimeor, if possible, to cannotdiminish [of eliminate crimealtogether. "Since thenumber crimes] modification, previous the without causes whichinducethemundergoing to it is the provinceof legislators ascertainthesecauses, and to remove themas faras possible"(Quetelet1842, p. 108). Because it appeared on the basis of this theorythat the same amount of crimewas regularly that producedbythesame causes, Queteletwas optimistic seculardisturof the by be reducedsimply reducing intensity bancessuch as crimecould all could not hope to prevent crime,there theircauses. While legislators administration "an was, nevertheless, ensembleof laws, an enlightened of can be reducedas much and a social statesuchthatthenumber crimes as possible"(Quetelet1846, pp. 357-58). like According Quetelet,because everygovernment, everyphysical to and by body,is confronted two typesof force("thosethatare attractive
21 Thisconclusion statement, innocuous seemingly Quetelet's with be should compared which of at the that"mancarries birth germs all thequalities voicedmuchearlier, of ([183 proportions" la] 1984,p. 14).The influence and develop successively in greater Gall hereis unmistakable. had beena on phrenology Quetelet Gall'sand Spurzheim's a through safeto assumethat,perhaps of resident Paris since 1807,and it is fairly or kneweach other movedin the either he of network friends, and Quetelet common was that It also be mentioned Comtehimself oneofthe circles. must sameintellectual that it and phrenologique that was inGall'sphrenology of members theSociWt6 earliest (see also n. 16 and for principle his sociology biology he hopedto finda mediating (1897,pp. 301-2) by is of reading Quetelet supported Durkheim's above).A biological of in discussion Suicide oftheconcept theaverageman.

pp. 214-15).21

1160

Quetelet thosethat are repulsive"),wise statecraft consistsin the pursuitof two policiestowardcrime.First,thestateshouldinitiate appropriate an reaction to combat and paralyzethe recalcitrant with incorrigible minority criminal thisreaction shouldinvolve tendencies, and, Queteletsuggests, adherenceto the principles the criminal of code, the constant detection and prosecution criminals, uniformity the decisionsofjuries and a in of relation between gravjudges, and themaintenance an appropriate the of ityofan offense thepunishment and awarded it (1846, pp. 356-57).22 In so ameliorative reforms shouldbe introduced that"theelements addition, of disorganization . . thosewho provokerevolutions" . (Quetelet1848b, the p. 295) would be prevented fromdestroying verybasis of the social in system. Second, the stateshouldparticipate the inevitable of progress civilization allowingthemoraland intellectual by qualitiesoftheaverage man to flourish; thisend, a government laws to shouldenactand enforce to reducethe effect seculardisturbances of and to encouragean equilibrium in the social system."The more do deviationsfromthe average do disappear... themore,consequently, we tendto approachthatwhich is beautiful, thatwhichis good" (Quetelet1842, p. 108). QUETELET AND HIS CRITICS According the discursivestandardsof his era, Quetelethad demonto strated mechanistic his notionsof theconstancy crime,its causes, and of its regulation, well as it was thenpossibleto do. His insistence as that crimewas an inevitablefeatureof social organization and, moreover, almost a necessaryconsequence of it assured his work a widespread notoriety. Sarton(1935, p. 4) has observed,no one could have carried As scientific indiscretion further than by attempting, did Quetelet,to as analyze social transgressions if theywere physicalaccidentsand to as consider passionsofthesoul as iftheywereabnormalities theweather. of Given public opinion,which identified criminality the dangerous the of classes with working-class failuresand rebellion,Quetelet'sidea that
22 Throughout criminology unclear his itis whether Quetelet's rather scanty adviceon penality was based on the repressive strategies the ancienregime on the reof or habilitative model of the prisonfavoredin the postrevolutionary Despite era. Quetelet's professed allegiance free to will,a consistent in belief rehabilitation seems to have beenprecluded his subscription thedeterministic by to views(ofVillerme and others) thatprisonlifenecessarily exacerbated criminal propensities (e.g., Quetelet [183la] 1984,p. 17n. 6) and thatcriminality was hereditary. thana decade itself More after Quetelet's death,French criminologists anthropologists and tended adoptthe to neo-Lamarckian "degeneracy" modelofcriminality rather thantheLombrosian "born criminal" because,as Nye(1984,pp. 101-2, 119-21) has suggested, position type this in allowedbelief voluntarism rehabilitation. and

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American Journalof Sociology was an criminal propensities were distributed throughout population the of affront the moral sensibilities the law-abiding citizenry.To a to and judiciarythatcouchedlegal responsibility theapplicationof punishmentin the classical discourseabout the freelegal subject, Quetelet's heresy, for, ideas aboutthecausality crimeamounted a deterministic of to ifcrimes had social rather thanindividualcauses, thenperhapscriminals could not be held strictly accountablefortheirmisdeeds. the of However,in Quetelet'sown lifetime, recognition hiscriminology as such was largelypreempted controversy about the natureof his by One facetofthecontroversy generalcontribution statistical to analysis.23 focusedon the positionthatQueteletwas believedto have takentoward freewill. In thisdebate, therewas no middlegroundbetweenthedeterministsand the spiritualists, betweenthose who adhered to Quetelet's to perceivedsocial determinism thosewho preferred discerna faint and To promise social equilibrium of through individualmoralimprovement. in an opposithespiritualists, determinism anyform represented ungodly tion to the soul, to Christianity, to freewill. To the determinists, and spiritualism was a metaphysical doctrinewith roots in the untenable These competing philosophies Germanromanticism of and naturalism. in untiltheend positions resulted a rather fruitless debate thatcontinued of the century (Lottin[1912] 1969, pp. 413-58).24 Quetelethimself was clearly perplexed theaccusationthathis moral by
23 In France, Quetelet's criminology contributed thegrowth theempirical to of traditionrepresented suchimportant by as studies Fregier's Dangerous Classesand ParentDuchatelet's Prostitution Paris. The reception his workoutsideBelgium in of and France was generally veryfavorable, especially England.JohnHerschel, in e.g., reviewed broad span of Quetelet's the endeavors and arguedstrongly that,while Quetelet's socialmechanics evidence was thatstatistical in progress thesocialsciences was lessadvanced thaninthenatural sciences, no nevertheless, onehad better exerted himself the scientific in collection and analysisof political, social,and moraldata; Quetelet's advice on how to repress violent the and rapacious, Herschel continued, "deserves be written letters gold"(1850,p. 37). Indeed,Quetelet's to in of on writings crime continued exert to great influence work diverse content as separated on as in and in timeas HenryBuckle'sHistoryof Civilisation England(1860) and Charles in Goring's celebrated EnglishConvict The (1913). 24 It couldnothaveescaped theattention thespiritualists theimplicit of that determinismofSur l'homme a certain had appeal in the1840sto radicalwriters suchas Marx and Engels(whosaw in thisbooka demonstration thefundamental between of links modern bourgeois society, immiserization, theamount sorts crime). and and of Besides thework Quetelet ofthose of and suchas Marxand Engels,itwas only theworkers' in newspapers, such as L'Humanitaire, Fraternite', Almanach La and populaire la de France,that individualist descriptions criminality challenged an alternative of were by analysis thatsought origins crime theinegalitarian the of in structure society of itself. Thus,L'Humanitaire August1841decreed: of "The manwhokillsyouis notfree not to killyou.It is society, to be more or precise, socialorganization is responsibad that ble" (quotedin Foucault1979,p. 287).

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Quetelet statistics assumed human action to be totallydevoid of choice and free will. Toward the end of Research on the Propensity Crime,forexfor ample,he held out thefollowing "I promise: am farfrom concluding ... thatman can do nothing his amelioration.... He possessesa moral for strength capable of modifying laws which concernhim" (Quetelet the [1831a] 1984, p. 69; see also Constant1961; Dupreel 1942, p. 31). The 1842 English translation Sur l'hommecontaineda new prefacein of whichQuetelettriedto defendhimself againstvarious chargesof fatalism,atheism,and materialism. Moreover,at thebeginning thistransof lation,he instructed publisher insert noticeto the effect the to a thathe was "no theorist system or maker"and thathe simply wished"to arriveat truth the onlylegitimate by way, namely,theexamination facts-the of incontrovertible facts furnishedby statisticaldata" (Quetelet 1842, p. iv).25So sensitive was Queteletto the chargethatdeterminism necessarily embracedatheism thathe frequently affirmed belief "thewise his in influence divine power." In this way and in others,Queteletconsisof tently eschewedany explicit interpretation others, a wide variety that for of reasons,wishedto foiston his facts. In additionto the controversy surrounding Quetelet'sposition free on will, a second controversy stemmed fromQuetelet'sidea of the average man. To sometheorists, idea-which Quetelet(1848, p. vii) implied this was his pivotal concept-was a sourceof acrimonious debate, scandal, and grief.AgainstQuetelet'sbeliefthatthe statistical means of various physicaltraitscould somehowbe combinedto form "average,"paraan digmatic humanbeing,contemporary statisticians made threemajor objections. The firstof these was made in 1843 by the rectorof the Academiede Grenoble, philosopher mathematical the and economist AntoineCournot.Cournotarguedthat,just as a right triangle cannotgenerally be formed from average lengths the threesides of manyright the of triangles, too the average man determined so from average physical the measurements height,of feet,of strength, (of etc.) of manymen would be simply "un hommeimpossible" (1843,p. 210). Quetelet notreply did to thisdifficulty.26 attack againstthe average man was continued The by
The net cast by antideterminist views includedothers besidesQuetelet.For example,in a paper read to the Statistical in Section theBritish of Association 1839, RawsonW. Rawson,a follower Quetelet, of complained "undeserved that ridicule has beencastuponsomeattempts which have beenmadeto showthatmoral phenomena
25

are subject to established and general laws . . . " (1839, p. 344).

26 It seemsQuetelet neverresponded specific to criticisms his work.Onlyat one of point he (1848a,pp. 13-20)deign recognize, then did to and to unsuccessfullydismiss, three charges directed against broadenterprise moral the of statistics: thecausesof (1) socialfactscan neverproperly observed be becausetheyare too numerous too and in variable their influence; moral (2) facts, unlike other statistical are facts, notcompa-

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AmericanJournalof Sociology Jacques Bertillon, professor demography theEcole d'anthropologie, of at who was a pioneerof statistical analysisof the ratesof divorce,alcoholism, and suicide and who provided some of Durkheim'stheoretical groundwork. Bertillon suggested thatan averageman, constructed from each of thehumanattributes, nota scientific was entity an invention but of the imagination.Far from being an ideal of human perfection, Quetelet's averageman was theepitome mediocrity; could onlybe a of he monster, "typede la vulgarite" the (Bertillon 1876,p. 311). A third objectionwas made byJoseph Bertrand, who arguedthatQuetelet had defined "man" independently particular of men considered random.He reaat soned that,because the average man mustnecessarily average in all be his attributes, featuresmust therefore his simultaneously embodythe averages of such antitheses beauty and ugliness.The average man as could therefore neither be ugly nor beautiful,neither foolishnor wise, neither virtuous criminal, nor neither strong weak, neither nor bravenor cowardly.Bertrandsuggested, perhapsfacetiously, that,in the bodyof the average man, Queteletwould perhapsplace an average soul (1889, p. xliii). To these threeobjectionsto Quetelet'sidea of the average man, a fourth the shouldbe added, namely, objectionmade by Emile Durkheim in Suicide (1897). Having congratulated Queteletforpointing theexisto tenceof regularities social phenomena,Durkheimwenton to argue, in however,that these cannotbe explainedby the conceptof the average man. The description social regularities, of even if accurate and porin greatdetail, does not explain them.In the particular case of trayed suiciderates,Durkheimreasoned,thiswas so fortwo reasons.First,the factthat 15 out of 100,000 personskill themselves each year "does not implythat the othersare exposed in any degree" (p. 304). Durkheim as therefore reminds thatQuetelet'saverageman was constructed the us arithmetic mean of qualitiesthatoccurin varying degreesin all individuals of a giventype.But, as withthevast majority any givenpopulaof tionthat,in practice, no propensity suicidewhatsoever, also, in to so has Quetelet'sterms,could it be said that the average man does not kill himself.From this point on, Quetelet'sidea of the average man, as a properobject of scientific inquiry, was not to be takenseriously.27
rable,and one therefore cannotdeducean averagefrom their aggregate; (3) the and study moralfactsmustalwaysbe incomplete of becauseone can neverknoweverything abouttheactions-goodorbad-of man.Quetelet's response these to difficulties was that,byrecognizing partial their he truth, thereby delivered ownworkfrom his thecriticism implied thesecharges. by 27 Attempts haveoccasionally beenmadetoresurrect Quetelet's concept theaverage of man,mostrecently theFrench by mathematician MauriceFrechet. Frechet sughas gestedthat Quetelet's homme moyen can be rescuedby the morepreciseconcept 1164

Quetelet
CONCLUSIONS

It has been suggested thispaper thatQuetelet'scriminology in included some of the focal concernsin penalityand the statisticalmovement. During the Restoration, these domains coincidedin a commonissue, namely, regulation thedangerous the of classes. Quetelet's social mechanics of crimeemergedalmostdirectly, otherwords,from conjuncin the tionof the apparentfailureof Frenchpenal strategies theexpansion and in the scope of the statistical movement includeempiricalsocial reto search.This conjunction providedthestructure muchofthesubstanand tive contentof Quetelet'scriminology. structure Its was formed the by relentless applicationof the methods the naturalsciencesto the moral of phenomena reported theofficial in records crime.Its content of consisted in an empirical examination theeffects different of of social environments on the individuals-drawn largelyfromthe dangerousclasses-who of passed through successivelayersof the administration justice. In the thisexamination, Queteletmade no theoretical distinction-nordid he even contemplate one-between his own observational categoriesand thoseofthestateofficials who constructed data in theCompte the ge'ne'ral. The objectofQuetelet'scriminology therefore alreadyconstituted was the problemof the dangerousclasses; its outcomewas a positivist discourse thatfostered rigidbinaryopposition a betweennormality deviation. and be of Where,then,should Quetelet'scriminology placed in the history This questionhas no simpleanswer.The response criminological theory? to itdepends,in part,on theidentification a distinctive ofdiscursive set of techniques and objectsby whichcriminology such can be demarcated as from otherinfant disciplines such as penology, phrenology, psychiaand of is try.But, since the early history moderncriminology still largely in uncharted the terrain, placementof Quetelet'scontribution its subseremain quentmaturation must,forthepresent, quitetentative. Quetelet's and maybeevenfostered, analysisofcrimecontained, manyoftheuncertainties and the inconsistencies associatedwiththe transitional phase in French penalitybetween classicism and positivism,between the unbridledlegal subjectof the former and the overdetermined object of the latter.In the soul of Quetelet'scriminal, in thatof VictorHugo's exas convict there dwelleda primitive JeanValjean (inLes Mise'rables), spark, in in a divineelement,incorruptible this worldand immortal the next,

manofa population homme typique. latter twobasicqualities: thetypical The has "(1) willbe theoneindividual thispopulation of whoexcludes possibility incompatiall of manought bility among different the characteristicsthistypical of man;(2) thetypical without being necessarily tobe typical relation theensemble hischaracteristics in to of typical relative each ofthem" to 1955,p. 327). (Frechet 1165

American Journalof Sociology that could be kindled,lit up, and made radiantby good and that evil could neverentirely extinguish. Quetelet'scriminology cannotbe understood exclusively a part of the positivist as reactionto the voluntaristic excessesof classical penology and jurisprudence; most,Queteletwas a at reluctant determinist who neither disownedthe classicaldoctrine free of willnordeniedthedeterminate character social behavior.Although of his presociological discourse was soon to be transcendedin fundamental waysbyMarx and Weberand, especially, Durkheim, is perhapsfair it by to say that Quetelet provided the positivistcore of a deterministic criminology that subsequently dominatedthe labors of Lombroso,Goring,and Bonger,who emphasized, respectively, biologism, mental hereditarianism, and economism.Moreover,by identifying existenceof the lawlike regularities recordedcriminalbehavior, by suggesting in that crimewas subject to causal laws of the orderfoundin the naturalsciof ences,and by implying thatcriminal behaviorwas as mucha product of society ofvolition, as Queteletalso openedup thepossibility a sociological analysisof crime.This greatachievement was recognized Durkby of heim and Fauconnetwhen theytracedto Queteletthe emergence an autonomous sociology resolutelyopposed to methodologicalindividualism: "Social phenomenacould no longerbe deemed the productof fortuitous combinations, arbitrary acts of the will, or local and chance circumstances. Their generality atteststo theiressentialdependenceon generalcauses which, everywhere that theyare present,producetheir effects.... Wherefora longtimetherehas been perceived onlyisolated was foundto be a system definite of laws. actions,lackinganylinks,there This was already expressedin the titleof the book in which Quetelet expounded the basic principlesof the statisticsof morality"(1903, pp. 201-2).
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