Mothers, Criminal Insanity and the Asylum in Victorian England: Cure, Redemption and Rehabilitation

This book explores the experiences of women who were designated insane by judicial processes from 1850 to 1900, examining how insanity gave the Victorians an acceptable explanation for these crimes and how admission to a dedicated asylum was viewed as the safest and most human solution. It sheds new light on the views of the patients themselves and contributes to the historiography of Victorian criminal lunatic asylums, conceptualizing them as places of recovery, rehabilitation, and restitution.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 10 August 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

This book delves into the accounts of women who were labeled as insane through judicial processes from 1850 to 1900, exploring the ideas and purposes of their incarceration in three dedicated facilities: Bethlem, Fisherton House, and Broadmoor. While the majority of these patients had committed acts of violence, such as murdering or attempting to murder their own children, they were not necessarily deemed incurably evil by medical and legal authorities or by society at large. Alison C. Pedley examines how insanity provided the Victorians with an acceptable explanation for these heinous crimes, leading to the perception that admission to a specialized asylum was the safest and most humane solution for both the "madwomen" and society as a whole. Mothers, Criminal Insanity, and the Asylum in Victorian England delves into the experiences, treatments, and regimes these women underwent in an attempt to redeem and rehabilitate them, ultimately aiming to return them to a patriarchal society. The book sheds light on how societal views of the asylums and insanity were not necessarily negative or influenced by fear and revulsion, highlighting the changes in attitudes towards female criminal lunacy in the second half of the 19th century. Through extensive and detailed research into the archives of the three asylums, as well as legal, governmental, press, and genealogical records, the book offers a fresh perspective on the views of the patients themselves and contributes to the historiography of Victorian criminal lunatic asylums, conceptualizing them as places of recovery, rehabilitation, and restitution.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350275324