Is arson an aggressive act or a property offence? A controlled study of psychiatric referrals.

Arsonists seen for psychiatric assessment were compared to property offenders and to violent offenders on a number of clinical measures. It was found that arsonists were a mixture of the two groups but the majority aligned with property offenders in personality, diagnosis, criminal and violence history, family background, alcohol and drug use as well as in sexual behaviour. Significantly 18% of arsonists were mentally retarded. The act of arson was examined in detail using reliable ratings. While there was no obvious motive in two-fifths of the cases, revenge with underlying anger was most frequently a recognized motive for arson. The provocateur for the act of arson was not always readily identifiable and in over half the cases more than one person or an institution was the stimulus for the fire. Directions for future study were discussed.