Theory, research, and intervention with arsonists

Juvenile animal cruelty and firesetting behaviour

“…Levitt et al, ). As well, concomitant attention has also been devoted to research and especially intervention practices among adolescents engaged in firesetting more generally (Horley and Bowlby, ; MacKay et al, ).…”

Developing an Assessment of Fire-Setting to Guide Treatment in Secure Settings: The St Andrew's Fire and Arson Risk Instrument (SAFARI)

“…The assessment can be time consuming given that a lengthy interview is required and the requirement to analyse a sample of fires can lead to the collection of some redundant information, with attendant frustration in some patients. It is also clear that having a standardized assessment instrument for fire-setting only goes part of the way to arriving at complete understanding of the static and dynamic factors in individual cases (Horley and Bowlby, 2011).…”

Subtypes of firesetters

“…First attempts to do so relied on motive, with anger/revenge, crime concealment, financial, pyromania/excitement and wanton/vandalism firesetters presented as important subtypes (Lewis and Yarnell, ; Inciardi, ; Prins et al, ; Icove and Estepp, ). One limitation of this approach is that it generates a large number of subgroups – from 6 (Inciardi, ; Dennett, ) to 15 (Rix, ), but a more important problem is that it is often difficult to find one clear‐cut, single motive (Geller, ; Horley and Bowlby, ). Firesetting is a complex behaviour influenced by interrelating biological, psychological and social factors (Koson and Dvoskin, ; Smith and Short, ).…”

“…An empirical study of serial firesetters showed four patterns by motive/drive: thrill, anger, wanton and sexual (Kocsis and Cooksey, ). Such differentiation between groups may be seen as the first stage in developing a theory and/or coherent strategy for managing firesetters safely (Blackburn, ; Canter and Almond, ), but classifications alone do not give insight into the personal meaning of the fires for the firesetter (Horley and Bowlby, ).…”

“…Although previous research has, therefore, come a long way in identifying firesetter subtypes, these studies mostly fail to take criminogenic and psychopathological factors into account (Horley and Bowlby, ). Using a theory‐knitting approach (Kalmar and Sternberg, ) incorporating main elements of the various theories, Gannon et al () constructed a comprehensive theoretical model of pathways into firesetting.…”