Understanding Arson- Elements of Proof and Motives for Arsonists
Introduction
Investigation of fires is a complex task because of continuously destroyed or altered evidence resulting from the fire. The investigation of fires includes determining the cause, the cause of loss of life or injury, and the cause of the resulting damages on the burnt property. Most fire investigators focus on arson investigations. Arson is defined as the malicious or willful setting of fire, aiding or causing burns, procuring or counselling the burning of a dwelling house or building adjacent or adjoining a dwelling house (Decker & Ottley, 2009). Preparing for an arson investigation is important to avoid missing important details that could solve an arson case. This report will analyze components differentiating arson from accidental fires, the types of psychological and economic motives of arson, and an overview of the kind of people likely to commit arson for economic and psychological motives. In addition, possible areas of developing leads on a suspect based on the type of arsonist a person might be and the artefacts that an arson investigator should be aware of, which would help in identifying arson motives.
Elements of Proof for an Arson Fire
One of the elements used to prove an arson fire is the destruction or damage of property. In arson fires, the property is any tangible real or personal property. The property needs to be a dwelling, a structure occupied by people even though it may not be occupied during the fire. The damage or destruction to such property may be a temporary or permanent reduction of its functionality, value, or utility (Decker & Ottley, 2009). The second element is that the property belongs to another person. Arson occurs when someone sets another person’s property on fire or a property he or she co-owns with someone else. In arson cases, ownership includes having proprietary interest, control, change, or custody of it. The third element is maliciousness, which indicates that a defendant acted with wrongful intent and was willing to set fire (Decker & Ottley, 2009). The accused individual should have been aware that the fire would likely cause damage to the property or have the intent to destroy the property. The fourth element is burning, which comprises damage caused by charring (Decker & Ottley, 2009). The arsonist should also have started a fire directly to a property using lighters, matches, or explosives. Burning includes three types of arson based on the amount of damaged property, type of burnt property, and risk of injuring people.
Motives of Committing Arson
Economic Motives
The main economic motive for committing arson is to gain profit. An individual motivated by profit may set fire to increase a property’s value, intimidate or eliminate a business competitor, commit insurance fraud or discharge financial obligation (Doley et al., 2015). The most recent pattern incorporates purchasing property in decaying inner-city regions at a low price and making various ownership changes to triple or double the property’s value. The property owner is promised rehabilitation of the property and gets insurance. A fire breakout then follows this, and the property owner receives considerable compensation exceeding the property’s initial value. Another typical pattern includes a property owner setting fire to large buildings in the inner parts of a city with diminished rental profits due to economic recession and decaying neighbourhoods. Annual taxes on these properties are more than the rental income, thus reducing the property’s market value. The property owner, therefore, opts to use incineration to dispose of the property. Arsons motivated by economic reasons are often planned ahead, and the owner usually has a solid alibi distancing himself or herself from the fire scene.
Psychological Motives
Psychological motives include pyromania, excitement, and revenge. Pyromania is a psychological disorder that includes feelings of loneliness, sadness, and rage resulting in setting fires. An individual with pyromania experiences tension before setting a fire and subsequently a feeling of relief or gratification as the fire burns property. They experience pleasure in seeing the measures being taken by other people to extinguish the fire and may also enjoy reading about the impacts of the fire they had started. Accordingly, most people with this psychological disorder claim that they like setting fires to watch the flames. Excitement becomes a psychological motive for arson when an individual enjoys chaos arising from an arson. Individuals setting fires due to excitement may also have the urge to be recognized as heroes. Such individuals are usually firefighters (Doley et al., 2015). They are excited when people discuss their heroic actions, and they crave attention by ensuring that everyone talks about them and allows them to discuss their heroic efforts. They develop a feeling of empowerment over society by being able to create a situation that requires a response from law enforcement and fire service. They view setting fire as the best way to demonstrate, obtain, acquire and maintain lost power. Some individuals may also experience sexual gratification when watching a fire scene. Individuals motivated by rage use fire to retaliate for perceived or actual injustice (Doley et al., 2015). This type of motive may include societal, personal, group, or institutional retaliation. They may respond to an injustice that occurred years or months before the fire-setting incident.
Background of The Type of Person Likely to Commit Arson for Economic and Psychological Motives
An individual committing arson for an economic motive focuses on an outcome that yields economic value. For instance, an individual may burn their car when the lessee or owner cannot afford their payment and then report the vehicle stolen before burning it (Ford, 2006). This enables the individual to collect on the insurance claim or get released from monetary responsibilities associated with the vehicle. In some cases, such individuals may be used to committing such frauds and know how to avoid getting caught. Owners of properties or businesses that are not doing well may be motivated to eliminate financial problems by burning the property or business (Ford, 2006). They may opt to commit residential fraud, which occurs when a homeowner or tenant focuses on defrauding the insurer. A property owner may also burn a property if they cannot rent out the property or are required to make many physical repairs to collect insurance money.
Individuals motivated by psychological motives have a history of being excited by the actual fire scene and the activities around the efforts used to suppress the fire. Such individuals usually have a pathological need for attention, making them stay at the scene of a fire to respond to it and be viewed as a hero. Some also interact with the crowd around the fire to watch it and assess the damage (Morewitz, 2019). Such individuals often target construction sites, lumber stacks, abandoned properties, and dumpsters. Individuals with pyromania are often offenders who can give a classical description of too much impulse that is beyond their control. They describe relentlessness, too much pressure, and conversion symptoms like palpitations, headaches, ringing in the ears, the urge for motion, and the steady transition of their identity into a state of unreality (Morewitz, 2019). Their tension subsides after setting a fire making everyone confused and getting assurance that the fire engines have arrived and are working. Most of the people in this category of fire-setters are adolescents.
Where to Develop Leads On the Suspect Based On the Type of Arsonist
When an investigator investigates an arson committed by an individual with economic motives such as a property or business owner, leads can be developed by viewing public and private records. According to Morewitz (2019), using records in arson cases is more important than other crimes. The investigator should begin by checking fire department records and later review business concerns, bank statements, credit reports, newspaper articles, courthouse records, realtors, and police department records. Fire department records would help determine if the individual has a previous record of a fire incident and if there is a record, the investigator should review the circumstances of the fire.
The investigator should also focus on the exact time the report was made and the person who reported the fire. In reviewing ban statements, the investigator should check if the individual had applied for a loan and whether the loan was accepted or declined. They should also review the reason for the loan being declined (Prins, 2012). The investigator should additionally determine the business or personal checking account activity and identify whether there have been any returned checks due to insufficient funds. Analyzing bank records should also include examining personal savings accounts and existing balances.
It is also important for the investigator to determine whether the individual being investigated for committing arson had made large withdrawals from their bank accounts or transferred funds to another account. (Tunkel, 2017) The individual needs to state the reason for these transactions to determine whether they were paying someone else to commit the crime. Analyzing realtor records is important based on the possibility that the property owner had put a realtor in charge of the property (Tunkel, 2017). The investigator should determine the details of the agreement between the property owner and realtor, including the things involved in the sale and the price asked by the property owner. It is important to gather all facts on the insurance the property owner maintains and determine whether the insurance is high or increased a few months before the fire occurs (Tunkel, 2017). The investigator should also determine whether the property or business owner had acquired insurance from more than one insurance agency without the knowledge of either of them hence creating duplicate policies on the same property because this could indicate that the fire was not an accident.
Investigators also need to determine whether there is a relationship between a suspect and his suppliers or buyers if the fire includes business concerns. This information is important in disclosing huge indebtedness that could indicate an economic motive to start a fire and help the investigator determine whether the owner had a lot of stock with obsolete goods that could only be disposed of by being burnt. Credit reports can help investigators determine the financial status of the suspect and their credit rating. An investigator may find records indicating that the suspect is bankrupt, thus indicating a motive to start a fire with the aim of acquiring compensation (Morewitz, 2019). Newspaper articles can help get a description of the property or history of the business. For instance, an investigator may find a newspaper article outlining financial problems the business may be facing. Such information could help investigators draw a connection between the fire and the economic motive (Tunkel, 2017).
Investigators may also look for newspaper ads indicating the price of the property to determine whether the insurance provided for the property exceeds the property’s selling price, hence determining whether the fire was started as a result of an economic motive. Police department records can be used to determine whether the witness or suspect has arrest records or a criminal record (Tunkel, 2017). Such information could play a significant role in changing the course of the investigation by reflecting the credibility of the witness or a suspect’s previous activities. Investigators should also review courthouse records to get information on the property mortgages and whether there are any previous cases connected to the property (Morewitz, 2019). The records can also indicate the property’s actual owner and whether the property is in receivership.
When an investigator is investigating an arson committed by an individual with psychological motives, they may get records from police records, courthouse records, and talking to people who know the suspect. In reviewing police records, the investigator should determine whether the suspect has any pending cases and whether the cases are connected to the property owner (Tunkel, 2017). For instance, police records could indicate whether the suspect had accused the property owner of wrongdoing and how the case was resolved, which helps determine whether the suspect had a motive for revenge. Police records can also help determine whether the suspect has committed such a crime before (Ford, 2006). Courthouse records can assist in determining whether the suspect has been issued any restraining order to protect the property owner from harm. Tunkel (2017) argues that talking to people who know the victim can help determine whether the suspect and the property owner had issues.
Artifacts Investigators Should Be Aware of That Would Help Them Identify Motives of the Arsonist
Every investigation into a possible arson starts with determining the cause of the fire based on the fire triangle, which consists of heat, the source of fuel, and oxygen. In most instances, the oxygen concentration is usually 16%, and the fuel may be any combustible substance. The source of heat should match the temperature of the ignition fuel. In a fire set by an arsonist, the suspect may alter the fire triangle factors by increasing the fuel load through a flammable material such as gasoline, alcohol, or kerosene. The suspect may also increase the intake of oxygen in a structure by punching holes in the wall, opening windows, or cutting walls and ceilings because fire follows the source of the highest oxygen concentration (Doley et al., 2015). One of the artefacts that investigators should be aware of is the witnesses’ and victims’ location, presence, and condition. These factors can help determine whether the individual was present when the fire started based on whether they have burns or not or the amount of some they have inhaled. The suspect’s position can also tell whether he or she set the fire based on how far he or she is from the source of the fire.
The second artefact is smoke and flame conditions. The investigator should observe the volume of flames or smoke, the colour of the smoke, the location and height of the flames, and the direction in which the smoke and flames are moving (Doley et al., 2015). This information is important in determining the cause of the fire hence ruling it as arson or accident. The third artefact is the condition of the structure that has burnt. Investigators should assess the situation by looking at details such as whether the lights had been turned on, whether the fire exited through the roof, any standing walls, broken doors and windows, and an open or closed door. A sign of broken windows and doors and open doors may indicate that the suspect may have tried exiting the structure when the fire started, thus ruling him or her out as a suspect. If the lights were turned on, there might be an assumption that the suspect was in the structure when the fire started. The fourth artefact is the unusual appearance of the scene, such as the presence of exterior burning, containers, charring on the building, unusual odours, absence of normal contents, and physical fuel trails or burn patterns from these trails (Doley et al., 2015). Such information is important in determining the cause of the fire and where it started before spreading to other parts of the structure.
Conclusion
Investigating an arson is a process that requires investigators to be keen to ensure that all facts are considered before determining whether an individual is guilty or not. It is essential first to understand the motive of the fire to develop leads on a suspect quickly. It is also important for investigators to review all artefacts that can be used to identify an arsonist motive. The artefacts may vary based on the magnitude of the fire because, in some instances, the arsonist may be too careful to hide evidence and eliminate all common artefacts, thus forcing the investigators to conduct a thorough analysis of the crime scene.
References
Decker, J. F., & Ottley, B. L. (2009). Arson law and prosecution.
Doley, R., Dickens, G., & Gannon, T. (2015). The psychology of arson: A practical guide to understanding and managing deliberate Firesetters. Routledge.
Ford, J. O. (2006). Explosives and arson investigation. Mason Crest Publishers.
Morewitz, S. J. (2019). Arson and arson-associated homicides. Clinical and Psychological Perspectives on Foul Play, 171-196. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26840-4_7
Prins, H. (2012). Arson (fire-raising). New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry, 1965-1970. https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0262
Tunkel, R. F. (2017). Criminal profiling investigative strategies for arson investigations. Handbook of Behavioral Criminology, 679-697. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61625-4_39
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Question
You are a senior member of an arson investigation unit. You are being supported by newly assigned criminal investigators from a street crime unit, who do not have much experience in the investigation of arson crimes. These new investigators will be doing the interviewing of arson suspects. You have been asked by the agency director to provide a white paper for dissemination to the new investigators. The paper will contain the required components that differentiate arson from an accidental fire. Further, you must explain to the new investigators in the paper the various types of economic and psychological motives that exist, so they may best plan their interviews with the arson suspect.
In a white paper to the newly assigned investigators, please address the bulleted tasks listed below in the assignment guidelines. There are a number of arson investigator resources that are not found in academic journals that may be utilized as references in this assignment. It is critical that when making a statement of fact in your paper, you cite the reference you obtained the information from in the text of the paper and that the reference is included in your reference page.
Assignment Guidelines
Address the following in 7–9 pages:
Describe the elements of proof for an arson fire.
Identify and describe at least 2 distinct motives for individuals to commit arson. The motives you select should fall under 2 different categories listed below:
Social
Economic
Psychological
Provide a background of the type of person who is likely to commit arson for the motives you select.
Suggest to the investigators where they might develop leads on the suspect based on the type of arsonist he or she might be. Explain in detail.
If the investigators have the opportunity to search the residence and/or business of the suspect, what artefacts should they be aware of that would help them identify the motives of the arsonist? Explain in detail.
Be sure to reference all sources using APA style.