Crimes Against Property

1
Profiling Serial Arson
Charles L. Feer, JD, MPA Department of Criminal
Justice at Bakersfield College
2
Arson

• Willfully and maliciously sets fire to, burns, or
  who aids in such, of any structure, forest land
  or property.
• Unlawfully Causing a Fire Recklessly setting a
  fire.

FOR MORE INFO. P.C. 451
Arson may be committed against ones own property
if with the intent to defraud. (I.e. Insurance)
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Arson

• 60,000 Arsons in 2010
• 8,806 Arrest for Arson in 2010
• 40 under age 18
• 23 under age 15 (little shits)

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Serial Arson defined

• Individuals who intentionally set three or more
  separate fires.
• May arsons by serial offenders go unsolved.
• Variety of offenders, with a variety of
  motivations and mental disorders.

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Forms of Arson

• Organized Crime
• Insurance / Housing Fraud
• Commercial
• Residential
• Psychological

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Arson Motives / Types

• Vandalism
• Excitement
• Revenge
• Crime Concealment
• Profit

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Juvenile Fire-starters

• Less than 18 years old.
• Textbook says 49.1
• 50 of Juveniles start fires for Vandalism.
• Revenge to get back at authority or someone.
• Peer Group Status.
• Excitement

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Juvenile Fire-starters

• Often set fires within 1 mile to their home.
• Usually accompanied by friends and peers
  (potential informants.)
• Half will remain on scene to watch firefighting
  activity.
• Often will engage in other criminal behaviors
  Cruelty to animals, robbery, forced rape,
  assault, weapons violations.

9
Adult Fire-setters

• Two basic Motivational / Behavioral features
• Expressive (emotion, i.e. anger)
• Instrumental (financial gain, to hide another
  crime)
• Look at target
• Objects (schools, vehicles, businesses)
• Specific people (symbolic or emotionally
  significant)

10
Action System Model

• Expressive Theme the best way to deal with
  others. (Symbolic / Emotional)
• Integrative Theme Offenders of a history of
  mental disorders, suicide attempts. Attention
  seeking behavior.

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Action System Model

• Conservative Theme Affecting a person
  significant to the offender. i.e. a failed
  relationship. (May also be a hostage taker.)
  Desire for personal revenge.
• Adaptive Theme Getting attention but does not
  display mental disorders. (Covers up another
  crime.)

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Adaptive Theme example

• Attention seeking -Firefighters / Arsonists
• Setting nuisance fires (grass, brush,
  dumpsters) in the firefighters primary area of
  responsibility, and then being one of the first
  to respond. Eager / Hero
• Sets bigger fires (abandoned vehicles, unoccupied
  structures.)
• John L. Orr

13
Pyromania (Expressive)

• Psychotic - Delusional
• Multiple deliberate fires set.
• Demonstrated high amounts of aggression.-
  Usually unmarried. - Have extensive criminal
  histories for assaultive behavior.
• Emotional relief from setting fires.
  (Irresistible impulse to set fires.)
• Impulse Control Disorder

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Arson Profile Quiz

• Name the Motive
• (1) Fire set to a school, on a Thursday
  afternoon. A group of teenage males were seen
  running away before the fire was reported. These
  same teenagers were seen while firefighters
  suppressed the fire. Witnesses report they think
  the teenagers live nearby.

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Arson Profile Quiz

• Name the Motive
• (2) Community has transitioned from an all
  volunteer fire company to a city employed fire
  department. 12 new firefighters have been hired.
  Almost immediately, several small fires of been
  set every other day. Then no fires for a week.
  Then several fires again. No injuries.

16
Arson Profile Quiz

• Name the Motive
• (3) Fire to a single family residence. Occupant
  is a divorced single female who is employed
  fulltime as a secretary and dispatcher for an oil
  field service company.
• She reports that she recently broke up with her
  boyfriend. Significant damage. No injuries.

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Arson Profile Quiz

• Name the Motive
• (4) Vehicle fire. After fire was extinguished, a
  body was discovered in the back seat. Subsequent
  autopsy shows that the body was dead prior to the
  fire.

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Arson Profile Quiz

• Name the Motive
• (5) A club house at a proposed golf course was
  burned. It is well known that the developers were
  having difficulty getting the financing to
  complete the project. There was no utility
  running to the structure. Structure is a complete
  loss. No injuries. Several Points of origin.

19
Profiling Serial Arson

• Dr. Charles L. Feer
• Department of Criminal Justice at Bakersfield
  College