Arson
Youths responsible for a third of arson attacks
The number of malicious fires has doubled over the past 10 years to become the largest single cause of major fires in this country. More than 100, 000 incidents were reported in the last year. Joyriding and insurance fires are behind more than half of all burned out vehicle fires. This report gives details of the statistics relating to arson, and makes the case for a multi-agency approach to pinpoint the causes of, and devise strategies to combat, arson.
Title: The Burning Issue: Research and Strategies for Reducing Arson
Authors: David Canter & Louise Almond
Publisher: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
Publication date: August 2002
Number of pages: 38
The research reveals four main factors that motivate people who start fires:
Youth disorder - children playing with fire, vandalism
Maliciousness - revenge attacks, hate crime
Emotional expression - mental illness, personality disorders and depression
Criminality - for financial gain or to conceal crimes
The report also attempts to quantify the proportion of fires that can be attributed to deliberate motivations (eg 45% of vehicle burnouts stem from other crimes, such as destroying evidence or insurance fraud).
The cost of arson fires in England & Wales was estimated in 1999 at £2.1billion. In the past ten years there have been 1.8 million arson fires, resulting in 22,000 injuries and 1,100 deaths. In an average week arson results in
3,600 deliberately started fires
60 injuries
2 deaths
a cost to society of £40 million
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Last update: Friday, July 25, 2008