NCJ Number
126389
Date Published
1988
Length
146 pages
Annotation
This two-part manual is designed for fire departments that have a juvenile firesetter program for younger children and want to expand that program, fire departments that want to develop juvenile firesetter components for ongoing fire prevention and education programs for children, and fire departments that want to add a juvenile firesetter component to existing arson prevention programs.
Abstract
A core juvenile firesetter program for older children and young adolescents is presented in the first section, which begins with a discussion of factors influencing firesetting and ways to evaluate firesetting behavior. Traits of curiosity and problem firesetters are outlined. A discussion on interviewing children and their families examines screening interview phases, interview sequences, and problems associated with interviewing. The methodology of scoring the interviews, as well as a more detailed description of the profile sheets, follows. This section concludes with a discussion of program development, strategies for helping young firesetters, and methods of referring firesetters to mental health professionals. The second section of the manual deals with establishing community programs for juvenile firesetters, discussing program design and implementation. Several models on which programs can be based are outlined. 12 appendixes