A Firesetting Offense Chain for Mentally Disordered Offenders

Abstract

Relatively little effort has been made to develop and validate theories that explain firesetting.In this study the first offense chain model of firesetting in mentally disordered offenders was developed. Twenty-three mentally disordered firesetters were interviewed about the affective, cognitive, behavioral and contextual factors leading up to and surrounding one of their recorded firesetting offenses. Offense account interviews were analysed using groundedtheory. The resulting model consists of four main phases: (1) background, (2) early adulthood, (3) pre-offense period, and (4) offense, and post offense period. The model accounts for firesetting by both male and female mentally disordered offenders and highlights the importance of early childhood experiences of fire and the onset of mental illness as precursors to firesetting within this population. Further, the model is able to distinguish between different types of mentally disordered firesetters and their offense styles. The clinical implications and utility of the model are also discussed.

A descriptive model of the offence chain for imprisoned adult male firesetters (descriptive model of adult male firesetting)

“…However, motive has been extensively examined within the numerous typological classifications of firesetting behaviour (see Gannon & Pina, ). Within the DMAF, eight offence goals were reported in line with existing findings: revenge (Lewis & Yarnell, ), economic gain (Barker, ), thrill‐seeking (Icove & Estepp, ), communication (Canter & Fritzon, ), crime concealment (i.e., a criminal problem in the DMAF; Inciardi, ), vandalism (i.e., thrill‐seeking in the DMAF; Inciardi, ), protection (Tyler et al ., ), and protest (Rix, ). Revenge , in line with the literature, was found to be the most prominent offence goal, accounting for a third of the sample (see Barnoux & Gannon, for a review).…”

“…Whilst the development of Tyler et al . 's () model represents a significant milestone in current firesetting theory, it is limited to offenders who were formally diagnosed with a mental health disorder at the time of the fire. Further, reliability checks were not employed in order to ensure strong levels of accuracy, reliability, and validity.…”

“…To date, only one known micro-theory of firesetting behaviour exists. Tyler et al (2014) developed an offence chain model for mentally disordered firesetters. The model highlighted the importance of early childhood experiences of fire and the onset of mental illness as precursors to firesetting.…”

Pathways to Firesetting for Mentally Disordered Offenders: A Preliminary Examination

“…In an earlier study, we developed an offence chain model that outlined the offence process for firesetting in mentally disordered offenders— the Firesetting Offence Chain for Mentally Disordered Offenders (FOC-MD; Tyler et al, 2013). The FOC-MD was developed using qualitative research methods (i.e., grounded theory) and describes the offence process for male and female mentally disordered firesetters in a temporal sequence, based on offenders’ narratives of their offences.…”

An evaluation of a specialist firesetting treatment programme for male and female mentally disordered offenders (the FIP‐MO)

“…This finding suggests that the specific sessions within the FIP‐MO aimed at targeting interest, attitudes, and beliefs about fire and fire safety awareness were effective in reducing deficits in these areas for treatment participants. Further, anger has been reported in the literature as a common emotion experienced by firesetters (Barnoux, Gannon, & Ó Ciardha, ; Gannon et al, ; Green, Lowry, Pathé, & McVie, ; Tyler et al, ), and aggressive motives are consistently reported as being highly prevalent for firesetting (Ritchie & Huff, ; Rix, ). Thus, it is encouraging that male and female firesetters who completed the FIP‐MO showed significant improvements in their self‐reported ability to express their anger relative to the comparison group.…”