NCJ Number
74271
Journal
Training Key Issue: 300 Dated: (1980) Pages: complete issue
Date Published
1980
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Psychological profiles are presented of the young arsonist, the pyromaniac, and the professional arsonist to help police understanding the personal characteristics and motives of common types of arsonists.
Abstract
Efforts to prevent and control arson have been hampered by the fact that it is a difficult and time-consuming crime to investigate and prosecute. Interagency cooperation, usually necessary for a successful arson investigation, is difficult to obtain. For police purposes, acts of arson are divided into three occasionally overlapping categories: vandalism, pyromania, and arson for profit. An estimated 35 to 50 percent of all arson is committed by juveniles. Genetic abnormalities, emotional problems, and harmful environmental influences occurring from infancy through adolescence contribute to the formation of the juvenile arsonist. Common motives for acts of juvenile arson are revenge, jealousy, and vandalism. Fires set by youngsters are characterized by crude execution and frequent location in vacant buildings. These fires are usually set during the day. The pyromaniac's motives are associated with the desires to be a hero and to be the center of attention, with enjoyment of burning the property, with an irresistible impulse, revenge and with desires for revenge against society and abnormal sexual gratification. The pyromaniac is usually male, between ages 16 and 28, an unskilled worker, sexually and socially maladjusted, single, an alcoholic, and characterized by feelings of inadequacy. The pyromaniac sets fires in haste in or around heavily inhabited buildings. Arson for profit, the most rapidly increasing segment of arson crimes, is not committed only by the businessmen desperate to extricate themselves from difficult economic situations. It is also a business in itself; the most typical modus operandi is the overinsuring of property and the hiring of a professional arsonist to burn it down for the insurance. Another arson for profit situation is the burning of personal autos by individuals to collect the car's insured value rather than pay repair bills. A chart classifies eleven types of arson by motive/arson type, perpetrators, and targets. A discussion guide for training purposes is also included.