Citation

Beirne P. J. Crim. Justice 1986; 14(5): 459-462.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0047-2352(86)90113-3

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This Note clarifies several ambiguities in the claims that Salas and Surette (1984) have made about the Belgian criminologist Adolphe Quetelet. Specifically, it suggests that Quetelet (1) never articulated a concept of political relations or of the political state; (2) consistently rejected the need for [`]theoretical' interpretation of empirical [`]data,' (3) borrowed the notion of [`]statistique morale' from French and German moral statisticians, and (4) vacillated between the poles of determinism and free-will philosophy.