Arson & Fire Setting

Question 1

What is the most common motivator of arson?

Answer 1

Anger and revenge

Question 2

Fire setters are sometimes described as under assertive what does this mean for their behaviour?
What are three characteristics of a fire setter?

Answer 2

They might not be assertive or dominant enough to directly challenge someone, so they do their aggression indirectly through fire
Low IQ
Less assertive
Physical disability

Question 3

What is the name of the theory that is strongly supported for fire setting? Who came up with it?

Answer 3

The only viable option theory

Jackson, glass and hope (1987)

Question 4

What is the premise behind the only viable option theory?

Answer 4

Arsonists are prevented from being able to resolve their own internal and external issues in socially accountable ways because they lack the opportunity, skill or confidence to do so. So they resort to fire setting because it’s their only viable option

Question 5

Who came up with some typologies for arsonists? List 2 researchers

Answer 5

Rider (1980)

Douglas (1994)

Question 6

What were rider (1980s) 4 typologies?

Answer 6

Jealousy motivate adult male , revenge

Would be hero

Excitement fire setter, personal excitement, not a sexual component

Pyromaniac - compulsive personality that impels to set fires, tension reduction, pleasure etc

Question 7

What is the definition of fire setting?

Answer 7

Wilful and malicious burning of property (Douglas 1992)

Question 8

What is the peak age that arson is committed?

Answer 8

14-16 years old (home office 1988)

Question 9

How many arson crimes are committed, how many on schools and what percent of convicts are males?

Answer 9

90,000 fires
70 % on schools
And 93% by males

Question 10

There are 6 theories for fire setting and why it actually happens, rather than typologies. What are they?

Answer 10

1) arson as a product of psychosis
2) arson and manic symptom - control paradox
3) arson as an abnormal fascination with fire
4) arson as displaced aggression
5) arson as a displaced sex drive
6) arson as a resolution of a problem

Question 11

Why did Lewis & yarnell (1951) believe that arson was to do with psychosis? Why is this unlikely however?

Answer 11

10-30% of arson cases have schizophrenia. But the fact still remains that the majority of cases are not psychotic. Can’t really say there is a causal relationship, just a correlation

Question 12

What’s an example of when manics lose their external control and might use fire setting as a way of asking for help?

Answer 12

Gunderson (1974) suggested that when released from an institution manics feel a loss of external control which then leads to a feeling of no internal control. Fire setting is a way for them to seek help however they don’t want to ask directly for help.

Question 13

Why is it unlikely that arsonists simply have an abnormal obsession with fire?

Answer 13

Unlikely because Jackson (1994) argues that the fascination with fire is universal and often in hospitals it’s the non arsonist patients that are most interested in fire
Also if it was just a fascination with fire they would pick safer targets to set on fire

Question 14

Which category of the DSM does pyromania fit under?

Is it a rare condition?

Answer 14

Impulse control disorders

Yes it is rare, the diagnostic categories are quite specific, most arsonists themselves wouldn’t fit under the diagnosis

Question 15

What is the psychodynamic perspective on fire setting? What’s the most common question asked of arsonists?

Answer 15

You set fires because of repressed sexual drive

Did you masturbate at the scene of the crime?

Question 16

Why does Jackson (1994) believe that the psychodynamic theory might have perpetuated even though most people people don’t believe in psychodynamic anymore?

Answer 16

Offenders don’t understand their own behaviour so if an authority figure suggests a cause they are likely to believe it
They might have got sexual arousal and excitement Arousal feelings mixed up
Often arsonists and sex offenders occur in the same typology of person, but not necessarily because they’re causally linked, but because they both suffer sexual abuse, bullying and neglect

Question 17

If aggression was the cause of arson what would we expect of behaviour when there wasn’t a fire setting opportunity?

Answer 17

We would expect the aggression to appear in another way, but it doesn’t so it seems unlikely to be displaced aggression, even though revenge and fires near the home are a common theme.

Question 18

According to the only viable option theory, what is arson seen as?

Answer 18

A means to an end, a way to effectively change intolerable circumstances
They also feel they have no other means to resolve the issue

Question 19

The only viable option theory has three main tenets what are they?

Answer 19

1) arsonists are personally, psychosocially and situationally disadvantaged so they feel the strong need to resolve them leading to pathological offending of many different types.
2) arsonists are unable to solve these problems in a socially acceptable way due to lack of skill, opportunity or confidence
3) the factors leading to the use of fire may be relatively light or appear insignificant in the wider scheme, so you shouldn’t focus on the fire setting itself but the underlying problems

Question 20

What are some characteristics of non pathological arsonists?

Answer 20

Single offence
Group behaviour
Financial or political motives

Question 21

What are some characteristics of pathological arson?

Answer 21

Recidivism
Fire setting alone or with one constant accomplice
Evidence of personality, psychiatric or emotional problems
Absence of financial or political gain

Question 22

Pathological arsonists intelligence is…
Suffer from which psychological disorders…
Likely to have…

Answer 22

They often have low IQ (Lewis and yarnell (1951) and therefore have poor achievement in school
Suffer from depression, suicide attempts, social isolation (wolford 1972)
Minor physical disabilities, like a cleft palate or small stature. Enough to make them feel inferior and likely to be bullied

Question 23

Pathological arsonists often also suffer from social problems and family problems. Describe these

Answer 23

They often come from disadvantaged backgrounds, with one biological parent often missing (macht and mack 1968)
24% of the sample in (Stewart and culvers 1982) sample had been abused
Ritvo et al (1983) said many of his sample reported high levels of abuse via burning
BUT
Bradford (1982) said arsonists reported lower levels of abuse than a control group of offenders

Question 24

Jackson (1994) showed the effect that punitive vs non punitive parenting response to their child’s arson. What were the 4 effects of punitive treatment?

Answer 24

Modelling poor problem solving
Restricting the ability of independent problem solving
Greater fear of rejection or negative evaluation
Greater degree of secrecy in the child

Question 25

What did Keval (1989) find about arsonists and their problem solving?

Answer 25

Poor problem solving ability and tended towards an external locus of control meaning they felt everything was due to outside forces that couldn’t be controlled.

Question 26

What is a good way to assess offenders of arson?

Answer 26

A good way is to use functional analysis where you look at the antecedent the behaviour and the consequence whilst taking a detailed history of the offender.

Question 27

Douglas (1994) devised a theory of typologies for the type of people most likely to commit arson crimes. He split the variables into two what were they?

Answer 27

The first level was frequency and pattern of fire setting

The second level was concerned with the motivation of the arsonist

Question 28

In Douglas (1994) what were the three subcategories within the frequency level?

Answer 28

Serial arsonist - multiple fires but the gaps between times are unpredictable
Spree arsonist - set fires to multiple areas with no cooling off period
Mass arsonist - sets three or more fires at one location in a limited time

Question 29

In terms of motivation, what 6 subcategories were there in Douglas (1994) model ?

Answer 29

Vandalism
Excitement, can be sexual, blends in with bystanders and watches
Revenge 
Profit 
Concealment of a crime 
Extremists

Question 30

What is the link between arson and psychosis?

Answer 30

There is a theory that it is a by product of psychosis, but like with physical violence there isn’t really a direct causal relationship