NCJ Number
207566
Journal
Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: September 2004 Pages: 197-214
Date Published
September 2004
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study examined crime scene actions and arson offender characteristics in relation to arsonists’ self-reported motives.
Abstract
Recently, research attention has been focused on investigative techniques designed to infer offenders’ characteristics based on crime scene actions. Given the nature of the crime of arson in which most evidence is destroyed by fire, there is little information regarding the crime scene actions and offender characteristics of arsonists. The current study sought to replicate the research by Canter and Fritzon (1998) that identified four themes to arson based on whether the act of arson was person-oriented or object-oriented. Official police data were examined for a random sample of 189 arsons occurring in Finland between 1990 and 2001. A content analysis of the police case files was performed and bivariate analyses, as well as multidimensional scaling analyses, were conducted to identify the structure of the offense and offender characteristics variables. Results indicated four crime scene action types, consistent with Canter and Fritzon’s (1998) findings, based on either expressive or instrumental motivation and either person-oriented or object-oriented. The four types of arson offenders were identified as self-destructive, serial, criminal, and adolescent. The results have implications for theory, as well as prevention and treatment; offender treatment should be planned according to the characteristics of the act. Future research should focus on examining whether recidivism is related to the classification scheme of arson. Tables, figures, references, appendixes