Fire triangle
Fire triangle mentioned in http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/6764 reminds me of the adoption triangle, and the rage it triggers in a lot of people. (Adopted Child Syndrome)
After all, lots of kids are brought into foster-care because of domestic violence, and death through fires, right?
Isn't arson a capital offense?
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videos
i know there are several music videos that show kids being taken away because their houses were set on fire. there's the one by martina mcbride, independence day.
articles
I remember posting this a couple of weeks ago.
Catching like wild-fire
I found this article, "The Scorched Earth Obsession" from Newsweek. It's an article about the California wildfires and arsonists. More interesting to me, however, was the following exerpt from a different article found here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21475495/
Arson investigators and criminal profilers have developed psychological profiles for those who set fires. These profiles are based on known information about identified arsonists, but since most arsonists are never identified, there is much about the crime of arson and those who commit it that we simply don’t know. However, we do know that approximately 50 percent of the known arsonists have been under the age of 18.
Determination of motive is key to any criminal investigation. In the case of arson, motive may include anger, revenge, or hate. In such cases, the criminal uses fire instead of physical assault to attack his victim. Other motives include arson for profit. For instance, the fire setter derives some benefit from the arson, perhaps an insurance payment or some other personal or financial reward. Over the centuries, some fires of historic proportion have been intentional acts of war.
What makes an arsonist
Possible motives
Arson could also be seen as the answer to a challenged homeowner who is about to lose his house due to foreclosure in this terrible housing market. Arson can also be committed to conceal evidence of another crime, or it can done as a form of political protest, such as the burning of abortion clinics by radical anti-abortion groups, or the torching of homes and businesses by a so-called domestic terrorist group such as the Earth Liberation Front, one that has described itself as “an eco-defense group engaged in economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the natural environment.” International terrorists can also be suspects in such crimes, as arson can be an effective tool for those seeking to attack the personal, emotional and economic base of a country.
And then there is the motive of vandalism or thrill seeking. Sometimes it's a stupid, meaningless act of juvenile delinquency done out of sheer boredom. And then there are copy cats whose motive may be represented by any of the above, but who sets his fire only after watching the results of the other ongoing fires.
I’ll leave it up to the clinical psychologists to discuss the assorted psychological factors that contribute to these various motives, but many believe the sense of power that an arsonist derives from watching his “handiwork” provides him with a tremendous emotional and physical high similar to what others may get from the use of illegal drugs.
Arson is a frequent crime in the United States. In 2006 over 69,000 incidents of arson were reported, an increase of 2.1 percent over 2005 statistics. Statistically only 15 to 20 percent of arsons are solved by investigation. Arson is a difficult crime to investigate. Most if not all physical evidence of arson is consumed in the fire itself.