Serious offending- Arson

What is Arson

• Criminal damage act of 1971- an act of attempting to destroy or damage property, and/or in doing so, to endanger life

• Deliberate fires include arson, however not the same

Prevalence of Arson

• Average number of deliberate fires per week= 3600

• 69,000 cases of arson, March 2021 to 2022

• 38% were primary fires 

• 62% secondary fires 

• March 2022-2023, 246 fatal fires

• Men are more likely than women to die and be injured in a fire

What is the difference between primary and secondary fires

• Primary, takes place in a non derelict building or a vehicle

• Also involves fatalities and casaulties

• The fire is attended by 5 or more pumping appliances

• Secondary, all other fires 

Trends of adult fire setters 

• Research states they are likely to be male however there are claims of ‘rise of the female arsonist’

• Generally young but are rising in age and men are typically younger than women

• 45-55% tend to have previous convictions, theft (28.2%), criminal damage (23.4%),violence (20%) and arson (5-6%) (Southill et al, 2004)

Trends of juvenile fire setters

• Research indicates they are likely to be male and have a fascination with fire from an early stage

• Tend to have a range of problem behaviors (antisocial behaviour, acts of violence) and psychological factors (difficulties in interpersonal skills)

• Tend to have disrupted education and family life

MacDonald triad (1963)

• A prediction of violent behavior in adulthood that stems from childhood

• Triad includes animal cruelty, bed wetting and fire setting

Do arsonists tend to reoffend or commit further offences 

• Don’t reoffend often, less than 5% were re convicted for arson offences 

• In recent years increased to 10,7%

• However around 50% tend to commit further offences and receive re conviction

• In recent years increased to 70%

• (Soothill & Pope, 1973; Soothill, Ackerley, & Francis, 2014)

Intellectual functioning and arson

• There is a long standing association between arson and low intellectual functioning

• Eg Dickens et al (2008), looked at firesetters referred for psychiatric assesment, 43% of this sample presented with an IQ <85

• Those with low IQ were more likely to set small fires eg set fire to rubbish

• Often co morbid with other mental disorders/communication difficulties eg autism (Collins, Barnoux and Langdon 2021)

Mental illness and arson

• 10% of forensic psychiatric patients have committed arson

• Compared to forensic psychiatric patients who haven’t committed arson, firesetters are typically:

• Younger,more likely to have a history of violence and more likely to have spent time in an institution.

• Repeat forensic psychiatric firesetters, compared to those who have set one fire are typically:

• Younger by 4 years and also have a greater history of other violent and criminal behavior

Types of mentally disordered fire setters (Harris and Rice, 1996)

• Psychotics, 33% of sample, schizophrenic, low crime, delusional and low alcohol

• Un-assertives (a lack of clear communication and assertiveness in their fire setting behavior) 28%, personality disorder,low crime, anger/revenge and high alcohol 

• Multi fire setters, 23%, personality disorder, low crime, anger/excitement and low alcohol 

• Criminals, 16%, PD, high crime and high alcohol 

What is Pyromania (DSM-5 criteria)

• Deliberate and purposeful fire setting on more than one occasion

• Tension or affective arousal before the act

• Fascination with attraction to fire and it’s situational context eg paraphernalia, uses and consequences

• Pleasure, gratification or relief when setting fires or when witnessing or participating in their aftermath

• The fire setting is not done for monetary gain, as an expression of socio-political ideology to conceal criminal activity to express anger or vengeance to improve one’s living circumstances,
  in response to a delusion or hallucination, or as a result of impaired judgment (e.g., in dementia,mental retardation, substance intoxication

• The fire setting is not better accounted for by conduct disorder, a manic episode, or anti-social personality disorder

What is a typology 

• A systematic classification that groups individuals behaviors based on shared characteristics. 

• In psychology, typologies help to organize complex information into meaningful patterns 

What are the typologies of arsonists (Prin’s 1995)

• Groups types of arsonists according to inferred motivations

• Mental illness

• Revenge

• Political

• Crime concealment

• Profit motivated

• Attention seeking

What is the mental health typology

• Severe mental illness, maybe influenced by symptoms

• Motivated by internal factors

• Characteristics include irrational or bizarre act with no clear goal

What is the crime concealment typology

• Set fires to destroy evidence of another crime

• Motivation is avoiding detection or prosecution

• Characteristics include planned episodes and serving a secondary purpose 

What is the revenge typology

• Retaliation against a person, group or institution

• Motivation is anger and a desire for vengeance 

• Characteristics are a specific target 

What is the profit motivated typology

• Set fires for financial gain

• Motivation is financial benefit

• Characteristics include, often planned and target high value property

What is the political typology

• Set in the name of a cause

• Motivation is to create disruption and gain attention of media (or others)

• Often extremists, terrorists or demonstrators

What is the attention seeking typology

• To gain attention, sympathy or recognition from others

• Motivation is the need for validation, outlet for feelings of neglect or inadequacy

• Characteristics include visible locations/time when arson can interact with witnesses

What is Canter and Fritzon’s (1998) action system model 

• Investigates the classification of criminal behavior

• Focuses on the arsonist’s behaviors

• Uses a technique called smallest space analysis

• Plots associations between crime scene variables  

• Identifies two dichotomies in the data (person oriented + expressive) and (object oriented + instrumental) which creates 4 groupings 

What are the 4 groups of Canter and Fritzon’s (1998) action system model 

• Person oriented- actions focus on people and emotions

• Object oriented- actions focus on objects

• Instrumental- behavior is planned and deliberate, goal driven

• Expressive- behavior is emotion driven and unplanned, emotion driven 

What are serial arsonists

• A proportion of arsonists set more than one fire

• Three or more fires with a high degree of planning (Kocsis and Cooksey, 2002)

• Wachi et al, (2007) solved cases:

• 6% commited 5 or more offences of arson

• 6% of these were women

• 66%= expressive- close to home, brief period of time and stayed close

• 33%= instrumental- targeted buildings away from home, revenge or to conceal a crime

Early theories of arson

• There are very few theoretical models of arson

• Early psychodynamic theroical accounts- an association between fire, enuresis and sexual desire (Freud, 1932)

• Instinctual drives such as aggression and anxiety explain firesetting (Kaufman, Heim 1961)

• Very little evidence to support these proposals

What is the learning theory of arson

Suggests that arson is a learned behaviour rather than something that comes naturally or biologically

Curri et al (2003) Fire imagery in toy packaging

• Surveyed toy packaging in a national store and found 404 toys portrayed fire eg fire trucks

• 97% were marketed to boys

• Suggests boys are disproportionately exposed to imagery that associates fire with excitement, action and danger

Greenhalgh & Palmieri (2003): Fire in TV and Printed Media

• Studied how TV and print media depicts fire, burn injuries and fire safety

• Found that media portrayals of fire are mostly aimed at boys

• Fire is often showed in a humorous, exciting or risk taking context

• Found minimal fire safety messages

What is the multi-factor theory of arson (Gannon et al, 2012)

• Suggests fire setting does not come from a single cause 

• Proposes that adults who set fires commonly show one or more of:

• Inappropriate fire interest- abnormal fascination with fire 

• Offensive-supportive cognition- cognitive distortions that justify or minimize fire setting 

• Self/ emotional regulation problems- people set fires to cope with anger or frustation 

• Communication and social skills problem- people use fires to express distress or anger 

What are the 2 tiers of the multi factor framework

• Tier 1, overall framework explaining the general process of fire setting:

• Describes all factors involved in fire setting and how they interact, including:

• Background vulnerabilities-abuse, neglect

• Triggering events- loss, conflict

• 4 key psychological features

• Situational opportunities- access to fire and supervision

• Factors that maintain or stop fire setting

• Tier 2, 5 common trajectories into firesetting:

• Antisocial/general offending - fire as part of a broader pattern of criminal behavior

• Emotionally expressive - fire used to manage emotions

• Need for recognition- fire used to gain attention or help

• Fire interest- strong fascination with fire

• Grievance/revenge- fire used to resolve conflict

Risk factor, clinical feature and motivator of antisocial trajectory

• Risk- offence supportive attitudes

• Clinical features- antisocial attitudes, impulsivity, antisocial personality disorder

• Motivators- vandalism, boredom, revenge

Risk factor, clinical feature and motivator of grievance trajectory

• Risk- self regulation issues

• Clinical features- low assertiveness, poor communication, anger

• Motivators- revenge

Risk factor, clinical feature and motivator of fire interest trajectory

• Risk- inappropriate fire interest

• Clinical features- fire fascination, impulsivity, attitudes supporting fire 

• Motivators- fire interest/thrill/stress 

Risk factor, clinical feature and motivator of emotionally expressive trajectory

• Risk- communication features 

• Clinical features- poor communication, impulsivity, depression

• Motivators- cry for help, self harm, suicide 

Risk factor, clinical feature and motivator of multi faceted trajectory

• Risk- offence supporting attitudes, inappropriate fires

• Clinical features- pervasive fire setting and general criminal behaviour, antisocial attitude 

• Motivators- various 

Fire setting intervention programme for prisoners (Gannon, 2012)

• Built directly from multi trajectory theory of adults

• 28 weekly, 2 hour group sessions

• Weekly individual support session up to 1 hour in length

• 4 components:

• Fire related factors- changing the persons beliefs about fire and fascination with fire

• Offence supportive cognition- challenges cognitive distortions

• Emotional regulation- managing emotions such as anger and frustration

• Social competence- can arise problems with communication or social functioning

 What is the Firesetters’ Integrated Responsive Educational
Programme (FIRE-P, Pearson et al., 2022)

• For adults with convictions for deliberate firesetting

• Specialist fire safety awareness programme

• Developed by Forensic Psychologist at University of Portsmouth

• Delivered by Fire and Rescue Service

• Preliminary evaluation showing potential for positive results