Dangerouns groups: The failure of a prepositivist police speech

Abstract

This paper studied the book “Des classes dangereuses de la population dans les grandes villes et des moyens de lês rendre meilleures” (1840), written by H.A. Frégier, a French police of?cer that for ?rst time applied the expression “dangerous groups” to describe precisely social sectors, which are inclined to crime. Thus, this paper aimed at checking and ratifying that the police corporation needed to use the medical speech, since they did not develop their own. The attempt of preparing a speci?c speech, prior to positivism and by police corporation, did not succeed, since it was useless to legalize the limitless police’s repression. As doctors had developed a speech, but did not have power to get hegemony, the police corporation was powerful concerning this, but they did not have a speech of legitimacy. Hence, the symbiosis was unavoidable.