NCJ Number
219989
Date Published
July 2007
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study examined characteristics of 100 fires associated with homicides (149 victims and 105 offenders) that occurred in Australia between 1990 and 2005.
Abstract
Over this period, there has been a statistically significant increase in the incidence of fire-associated homicide. Sixty-eight percent of the fires were classified as the use of fire as a homicide weapon. This type of homicide consisted of two subtypes: antemortem burning in which the victim died from the effects of fire but no arson was recorded (e.g., the victim was doused with gasoline and then set afire); and primary arson-homicide, in which the victim's death was due to the effects of fire in the course of arson (52 percent). The second main type of fire-related homicide involved fire as a secondary element (29 percent). There were two subtypes of this type of fire-related homicide: postmortem burning, in which cause of death was not fire-related and no arson was reported (e.g., the victim was stabbed to death followed by a burning of the body); and secondary arson-homicide, in which the victim was not killed by the effects of fire but died in conjunction with arson (23 percent). Offenders who used fire as a weapon had a mean age of 32, with 83 percent being men. Most homicides that used fire as a weapon were committed by strangers (25 percent) or friends/acquaintances (22 percent). Family members and intimate partners were responsible for 19 percent each. For cases in which fire was a secondary element in the homicide, the majority involved a single victim and a single offender (54 percent). Sixty percent of the homicide victims in which fire was a secondary element were men. Offenders using fire as a secondary element were mostly male (84 percent) with a mean age of 33. 1 table and 14 references