Arson Critical Analysis - Research Paper Example

? LASA CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR LASA CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR The study involving criminal behavior is based on the general notion that certain acts classified as criminal are present and consistent across a number of societies. These actions are related closely to delinquent behavior and are to the extent or level of being immoral. Crime is an act that impacts or affects everyone whether indirectly through economic and social costs or directly as a fatality or victim. Irrespective of how important it is to understand the behavior exhibited by the criminal, it does not necessarily remove or do away with criminal behavior. Criminal behavior has remained to be a spotlight for psychologists because of the age old debate found between nurture and nature. A wide range and diverse behaviors is incorporated in the crime category. Law-violating behavior is in every bit as varied as the law-abiding behavior is. In the same way the law-abiding behavior (lawful) follows a categorized pattern and falls into types, so does the criminal or law-violating behavior. This paper selects arson as a criminal behavior type and focuses on juveniles to examine the various aspects such as crime rate, typical perpetrators, criminal and civil legal systems regarding arson, and causes. The FBI’s UCR (Uniform Crime Reports) Program (2010) defines arson as any malicious or willful burning or trying to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a public building, dwelling house, aircraft or motor vehicle, personal property of someone else among other properties. Crime Rate (Arson) According to the FBI UCR Program data on Arson, 56,825 arsons were reported in the year 2010 by 15,475 law enforcement agencies within a period of 12 months. Out of the 56,825 agencies of law enforcement, 14, 747 gave expanded offense data about 48,619 arsons. Arsons that involved structures accounted for 45.5% of the total arson offenses with mobile property involving 26% and the other types of property accounting for 28.5%. The average estimation of dollar lost because of arson in the year 2010 was given to be $17,612. The highest average dollar losses came from arsons of manufacturing or industrial structures, which averaged at $133,717 per arson. However, on a positive note, the arson offenses decreased or reduced 7.6% compared with the data of the year 2009. The nationwide arson offenses stood at 19.6 arson offenses for every 100,000 inhabitants. Based on population group (arson per population number), the FBI categorized arson rate per group with over 250,000 and above group recording a rate of 32.4, 100,000 to 250,000 recording a rate of 21.7 with the rate reducing subsequently alongside the reduction of population numbers (FBI Uniformed Crime Report, 2010). Typical Arson Perpetrators The deadly offense of arson is spreading in the U.S at an alarming rate leaving the entire city neighborhoods overwhelmed in its waste. A number of studies have indicated that the typical arson perpetrators are mainly the juveniles. Del Bove and Mackay (2011) in their article argue that in as much as a number of studies have examined the group differences between the non-fire setting children and the fire setting children, specific profile about the juvenile fire setter has not come up. However, five different categories of fire setters have been suggested, which include the unintentional or accidental, the erotic, the delusional, the child, and the revenge fire setter. A study conducted by Pettiway Leon (1987) on arson for revenge showed that demographic variables such as age, sex, and race together with the offender’s residency place environmental character would determine the likelihood of offenders committing arson. The analysis of this particular study indicated that important racial and age differences affected the likelihood of an individual using fire as retaliatory weapon. From the year 1987 to the year 1996, there was a 36% net increase reported in the arrests of juvenile for arson and a decrease of 17% in the arrests of adults committing arson. Not only do the juveniles constitute a large share of all the arson arrest, but analysis further indicates how young most of these offenders are in terms of age (Hall, 1998). With the regard to age the children and the juvenile age group form the typical fire setters or arson perpetrators with the male gender being more likely to commit arson than the female gender. However, the environmental situation of the place of residence of an offender seems to condition the relationship found between race and age with retaliation. The social economic status accustomed by poverty plays a vital role given that it can lead to coercive methods in early childhood. Civil Legal Systems Regarding Penalties, Burden of Persuasion and Key Players Arson is a strange or peculiar crime. It is done or committed covertly and in secrecy, and consequently, the sufficiency and admissibility of evidence are all problems to be solved. A conviction if probable is usually the result of an accumulation or gathering of several bits of circumstantial evidence. The attorney prosecuting the case is impelled to provide evidence that borders on the imaginary line separating the admissibility from the inadmissibility. John Hall (1998) argues that arson accounts for an extremely small and declining fraction of the criminal justice system activity. Statistics from the FBI reports that the law enforcement agencies have cleared or solved between 15-19% arson offenses each year from the year 1980. This rate is extremely law compared to those of the other violent crime such as aggravated assault, murder, and rape. The rates of clearance for arson especially for the major cities tend to be lower than the ones in the smaller cities owing to the fact that people found in the smaller cities and rural communities are more likely to know each other making it easier to solve the case or crime. The key players in arson cases are usually the mental and forensic experts. The criminal court in the U.S has a widespread record of consulting the mental experts on cases regarding arson. The forensic experts may in most cases be asked to evaluate the various areas connected to the arson crime, which may comprise the state of mind at the time of committing the offense, recidivism risk, the suitability for treatment, and the competency to standing a trial. This is contrary to the other cases of crime where the legal experts conduct investigations and present criminating evidence before a court of law. The difference between the criminal law and the civil law is hinged on punishment or redress. Redress of the wrongs by compelling restitution or compensation forms the entity of civil law. The perpetrator is not punished but only suffers a lot of harm as is essential to make good the mistakes committed or done therefore the individual who has suffered gets a distinct benefit from the civil law. This is contrary to the criminal law where the main object is to punish the perpetrator giving him and the others a tough inducement not to do or commit similar crimes. The criminal law aims to reform the perpetrator is possible and satisfies the community sense that the perpetrator ought to meet with payback. In a civil law, the weight of proof is usually preponderance of evidence while in criminal law the state bears the burden of proof. Burton ET all (2012) argues that based on the fire’s propensity and prevalence for damage, the civil courts have in most cases dealt with the fire setting-related cases or litigation. Causes of Arson A number of reasons have been cited as to why arson attacks occur in communities. Arson is usually committed by either adults or juveniles, but the arrests of adults have been reported to be on the decline with the juvenile forming a larger percentage of arson arrests. Some of the major causes of arson committed by adults include financial embezzlement and insurance fraud owing to the hard economic times that make the arsonists perceive insurance payouts as a way of making a lot of money. The other cause is hiding of evidence or covering tracks. The popular phrase “torch the evidence” is often related with arsonists who use fire to cover up crimes such as murder, fraud, or theft. In cases involving embezzlement, a perpetrator may use fire to burn the company records hoping that the fire will actually hide the indiscretion. The increasing number of juvenile arson has major causes, which include psychological reasons, a motivation via revenge, and arson murder or suicide. An individual or a child considered being mentally unstable or having a pathological interest in fire can start a forest or property fire because he/she finds the act fascinating. The destruction that results from this act satisfies the individual’s deep needs psychologically. Hans J. Eysenck’s theory of personality and crime justifies the psychological reason as a cause for committing arson. According to Eysenck, the criminal behavior of an individual is as a result of an interaction that occurs between certain environmental conditions and nervous system features. The case of an individual setting fire because he/she has a pathological interest in the act and getting a psychological satisfaction has a neurological implication given that the fascination is as a result of a nervous system. Eysenck in his theory claims that it is actually not the crime itself or criminality that is inborn or innate; the peculiarities of the autonomic and CNS that react with the surrounding or environment, with upbringing and several other environmental factors to increase the possibility of a particular individuals acting in a certain antisocial way (Bartol & Bartol, 2008). A common incidence in the U.S usually involve an arsonist being motivated to commit arson in order to revenge for a deep hatred or grudge for another person. This can lead to an individual setting on fire someone else’s car, house, or workplace. Berkowitz’s cognitive-neoassociation model explains this cause and the manner in which it operates. The frustration-aggression theory or hypothesis has it that during its beginning stages, an aversive event generates a negative affect. This discomfort (negative affect) may be because of a physical or psychological discomfort. An example of a psychological discomfort is being insulted verbally. In as much as a physical pain may be missing, the demeaning comments or personal insults engender depression, anger, or sadness in almost everyone. The negative affects or unpleasant feeling may presumably generate a variety of feelings, memories, and thoughts that can be associated with anger and fear tendencies. These tendencies in the later stages may generate revenge leading one commit arson. According to Berkowitzz, any unpleasant arousal or feeling can evoke aggressive or even violent responses (Bartol & Bartol, 2008). This only occurs in very extreme circumstances where fire is used to commit a murder or suicide. In an attempt to relate adult serial killing or murder and adolescent or childhood fire setting, Singer and Hensley (2004) applies the social learning theory providing an explanation that can be linked to suicide or murder as a cause of fire setting. Based on the social learning theory, murder has to be learned and thus the murderer has to endure a number of humiliating experiences. Serial killers need to release their aggression at some particular point and because they cannot manage to do so, they choose a more vulnerable or less formidable aggression outlet. Similarly, Fire setting may appear to be less severe or a beginning attempt to release aggression. It may actually be a stepping stone from which a certain offender graduates to a more serious aggression form and maybe escalating eventually to murder. It has not been proposed that all the fire setters become serial killers eventually, and most adolescent/childhood fire setters do not actually become serial killers. However, some people cannot find resolution to their frustration via the more mild aggression forms and thus go on escalating their aggression tendencies and precisely turn out to be serial killers in an attempt to let go their frustrations. References Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. M. (2007). Criminal Behavior: A Psychosocial Approach. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.  Burton, P., & McNiel, Dale et al. (2012). Firesetting, Arson, Pyromania, and the Forensic Mental Health Expert. Journal of the American academy of psychiatry and the law, 40 (3), 355-365. Del Bove, G., & Mackay, S. (2011). An Empirically Derived Classification System for Juvenile Firesetters. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 38 (8), 796-817. FBI UCR (Uniform Crime Reports) Program. (2010). Arson. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/property-crime/arsonmain Hall, J.R. (1998). The Truth About Arson. NFPA Journal, 92(6), 59-67 Pettiway, L. (1987). Arson for Revenge: The Role of Environmental Situation, Age, Sex, and Race. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 3 (2), 169-184. Singer, S., & Hensley, C. (2004). Applying Social Learning Theory to Childhood and Adolescent Firesetting: Can it lead to Serial Murder? International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 48(4), 461-476. Read More