Arson

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Arson, in general, is the crime of setting a fire for an unlawful or improper purpose.

Image:Skyline Parkway Motel Burned.jpg

The Skyline Parkway Motel at Rockfish Gap after an arson fire on July 9, 2004.

The motives of arsonists vary. The possibility of financial gain often drives arsonists to file fraudulent insurance claim after setting fire.

Vandalism is frequently behind arsons perpetrated by juvenile fire setters. Vandalism through fire can occur in vacant or abandoned buildings. Cities often regulate or encourage owners to secure vacant buildings. Fire departments aggressively attack fires in abandoned buildings out of concern for the transient or homeless people that may be dwelling inside.

Domestic violence sometimes results in arson. Victims’ property is often damaged or destroyed, compromising physical safety and sometimes causing personal injury. In some cases arson can also be a method of committing murder. Revenge motivation can generate dangerous fires, as a fire setter’s acts of rage contributes to the conflagration. Disgruntled firefighters have occasionally been known to start arson out of revenge, especially those extremely angry at losing their jobs or who have numerous grievances with a fire station and hope that the fire chief or other superiors may perish in the arson fire they started.

Man-made forest fires are frequent in many parts of the world. The summers of southern Europe, most notably Turkey and Greece but also Portugal, southern Spain and most of Italy regularly see man-made forest fires. The southern United States, particularly the southwestern regions, are regularly plagued with wildfires, many of which are man-made. Many damaging outdoor fires are due to accidental causes, e.g. children playing with matches or improperly extinguished campfires. These fires, though man-made, are usually not considered arson. Still, some of the devastating California wildfires of October 2007 were deliberately set; one arsonist was actually shot at the scene of the crime.

Some acts of arson are politically motivated. For example, an environmental group known as the Earth Liberation Front committed arson to spread its message of environmental protection. It is often incorrectly believed that Roman emperor Nero ordered the Great Fire of Rome, which erupted on the night of July 18, 64 CE. The fire started from the shops selling flammable goods at the southeastern end of the Circus Maximus and reportedly lasted for nine days.

1 Modern statutory definitions
2 Etymology
3 References
4 See also

[edit] Modern statutory definitions

In English law, arson was consolidated into the criminal damage of property offence in the Criminal Damage Act 1971. Nonetheless, the use of the word "arson" has been retained. In Scots Law, the term "fire-raising" has always been used rather than 'arson' though the meaning of the offence is the same.

Arson is still an enumerated offense in most US jurisdictions and in many states is a felony which can give rise to felony-murder, i.e. a defendant convicted of arson which results in the death of another person is guilty of murder in the first degree.

[edit] Etymology

The term "arson" derives from the Anglo-French arsion, and ultimately from the Late Latin arsionem, meaning "a burning". [1]

[edit] References

White, J. & Dalby, J. T. 2000. Arson. In D. Mercer, T. Mason, M. McKeown, G. McCann (Eds) Forensic Mental Health Care. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingston. ISBN 0-443-06140-8