He studied medicine under Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol (1772–1840), and was later chief physician at the Bicêtre in Paris.
Leuret was also chief-editor of Annales d’hygiène publique et de médecine légale, an influential journal of hygiene and forensic medicine.
He stressed the importance of using a rational and humane approach in treatment of the mentally ill, and also believed that the criminally insane were sick individuals who were incapable of controlling their behavior.
He felt that the origins of mental illness were unknown, and that it was wrong to define madness from only a somatic standpoint.
Leuret's psychiatric theories put him at odds with other French physicians, particularly those who thought that the source of mental illness could be localized to a specific part of the brain's anatomy.