Comparing the psychological characteristics of un-apprehended firesetters and non-firesetters living in the UK

ABSTRACT

Deliberate firesetting research predominantly focuses on apprehended populations. In contrast, this paper focuses on the prevalence and characteristics of un-apprehended firesetters living in the UK. Social media was utilized to recruit 232 participants for an online questionnaire. Two hundred and twenty-five people answered a question relating to deliberate firesetting. Forty participants (17.78%) indicated that they had ignited a deliberate fire and were classified as un-apprehended firesetters. Firesetting was most common in childhood and adolescence. Relative to non-firesetters, un-apprehended deliberate firesetters were more likely to report; a diagnoses of a psychiatric illness, a diagnosis of a behavioural problem, having been suspended from school, a history of suicide attempts, experimenting with fire before the age of 10 years old, and having a family member who also ignited a deliberate fire. Un-apprehended firesetters also scored significantly higher compared to non-firesetters on the Fire Setting Scale and the Fire Proclivity Scale [Gannon, T. A., & Barrowcliffe, E. R. (2012). Firesetting in the general population: The development and validation of the Fire Setting and Fire Proclivity Scales. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 17(1), 105–122], the Fire Interest Rating Scale [Murphy, G. H., & Clare, I. C. H. (1996). Analysis of motivation in people with mild learning disabilities (mental handicap) who set fires. Psychology, Crime & Law, 2(3), 153–164], the Novaco Anger Scale and Provocation Inventory [Novaco, R. W. (2003). The Novaco Anger Scale and Provocation Inventory: NAS-PI. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services], the Boredom Proneness Scale – Short Form [Vodanovich, S. J., Wallace, J. C., & Kass, S. J. (2005). A confirmatory approach to the factor structure of the Boredom Proneness Scale: Evidence for a two-factor short form. Journal of Personality Assessment, 85(3), 295–303], and the Measure of Criminal Attitudes and Associates Scale [Mills, J. F., & Kroner, D. G. (1999). Measures of criminal attitudes and associates: User guide. Unpublished instrument and user guide].

KEYWORDS:

• Arson
• firesetter
• deliberate firesetting
• adolescent
• un-apprehended

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Number of male and female firesetters does not add up to total number of cases proceeded against in court as in 10 adult cases and 3 juvenile cases the gender was unspecified.

2. In the UK the law assumes that children under the age of 10 are too young to understand the morality of their behaviour and therefore cannot receive a criminal conviction (Gov.UK, 2015).

3. Sample items from the NAS-PI copyright © 2003 by Western Psychological Services. Reprinted by E. Barrowcliffe, University of Kent, for scholarly display purposes by permission of the publisher, WPS, 625 Alaska Avenue, Torrance, California 90503, USA. Not to be reprinted in whole or in part for any additional purpose without the expressed, written permission of the publisher ([email protected]). All rights reserved.

4. Psychiatric disorder included depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorders and anxiety disorders.

5. Novaco t-score conversions were used in the analysis.