verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://64.176.36.150/topic/arson
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Print
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://64.176.36.150/topic/arson
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

arson
arson
Related Topics:
crime

arson, crime commonly defined by statute as the willful or malicious damage or destruction of property by means of fire or explosion. In English common law, arson referred to the burning of another person’s dwellings under circumstances that endangered human life. Modern statutes have expanded this definition so that arson now includes the wrongful burning of any public or private property.

Most jurisdictions have divided arson statutes into two or more degrees, reserving the heavier punishments for burnings that pose a danger to human life. Such acts generally include the burning of vehicles, bridges, and forests as well as habitable dwellings (e.g., houses, stores, office buildings, and factories). In nearly all countries, an arsonist may be prosecuted for murder if someone dies as a result of the act, even if the intention to kill is absent. Some jurisdictions (e.g., Germany and some U.S. states) also impose a higher penalty for arson committed for the purpose of concealing or destroying evidence of another crime.

It can be arson to burn personal property as well as real estate. Statutes also have forbidden burnings caused by incendiary devices. By contrast, a fire caused by accident or ordinary carelessness is not arson, because criminal intent is lacking. Nonetheless, reckless activity—or burning without regard to consequences—can result in an arson conviction.

An arsonist may act from a variety of different motives, including rage, jealousy, profit (e.g., burnings undertaken to commit insurance fraud), and the desire to conceal or destroy evidence. Persons suffering from pyromania have a pathological and uncontrollable urge to set fires.

Thomas J. Bernard