SOC 2700 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Adolphe Quetelet, Celestial Mechanics

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2700
• Professor: Frank Cameron

Document Summary

The first annual national crime statistics are published in france in 1827, about 15 years after beccaria wrote his book that formed the basis for classical criminology. It soon became clear that these crime statistics were astonishingly regular. The rates of crime in general and of particular crimes, such as murder and rape, remained relatively constant from year-to-year. In addition, some places in the nation had higher crime rates, but others had lower rates, and these differences remained relatively constant from year-to-year. The regularity of crime statistics suggested that beccaria had been correct in his argument that rather than being entirely the product of free will, crime must be influenced by factors in the larger society. The most educated sections were in northeast france when almost 75% of young men could read and write it while the least educated sections were in western and central.