ABSTRACT
The narrative structures used in remission letters demonstrate how the family advocated for the mad person by constructing stories about the crime, but also reveal details about the person’s entire life. The evidence provided for mental illness earlier in the person’s life was often idiosyncratic, and sometimes the narratives tried to provide logical linkages between the earlier behavior and the ultimate crime of the mad person. These individual narratives reveal a wide spectrum of beliefs about what caused madness and what kinds of behaviors and criminal acts were coded as mad. Although each narrative was distinct, a clear pattern emerges whereby the actions of the individual identified as mad disrupt familial and communal bonds.
