1,724,801 research outputs found

    Arson-associated homicide in Australia: a five year follow-up

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    Over the period 1989 to 2010, there were 123 incidents of arson-associated homicide, involving 170 unique victims and 131 offenders. Foreword Arson homicides are rare, representing only two percent of all homicides in Australia each year. In this study, data was collected from the AIC’s National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP) to build on previous research undertaken into arson-associated homicides and to provide more detailed analysis of cases and offenders. Over the period 1989 to 2010, there were 123 incidents of arson-associated homicide, involving 170 unique victims and 131 offenders. The majority of incidents (63%) occurred in the victim’s home and more than half (57%) of all victims were male. It was found that there has been a 44 percent increase in the number of incidents in the past decade. It is evident that a considerable proportion of the identified arson homicides involved a high degree of premeditation and planning. These homicides were commonly committed by an offender who was well known to the victim, with over half of the victims (56%) specifically targeted by the offender. This paper therefore provides a valuable insight into the nature of arson homicides and signposts areas for further investigation

    A Strategy for Arson. Centre of Investigative Psychology, University of Liverpool.

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    In the UK it is estimated that the direct financial costs of arson are well over £1.3 billion a year. If the value of investigation time, uninsured losses and total social costs were included then the real cost is considerably higher (Home Office 1999). Arson fires often devastate whole families. Injuries can leave the victims with a lifetime of pain as well as permanent physical and mental scars. The outcome of widespread arson in a community can create degeneration within an area, provoking a loss of business and unemployment

    Learning Disability and Serious Crime - Arson

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    This review paper follows on from a previous review of the literature with regard to learning disability and murder (Read, S. 2008). This paper, in turn, examines the relationship, if any, between learning disability and fire setting. The approach taken in both these papers involves the concept of Disruptive Behaviour Disorder as being the group of behaviour and personality disorders most involved in the aetiology of these criminal and anti-social behaviours. Disruptive behaviour disorders (Read, 2007) comprise: Oppositional Defiant Disorder Conduct Disorder Anti-social Personality Disorder Intermittent Explosive Disorder (DSM IVR, 2001, APA) The common characteristics of these disorders comprise aggression, irritability, over-activity, high arousal, and repetitive behaviour. In this context, perhaps we can see there is a continuum of offences. As we will show in the third paper (on Learning Disability and Sexual Offence), the sexual offences most often carried out by individuals with an intellectual disability are those of a less serious nature (for example, exhibitionism or indecent assault), than compared to the more serious sexual offence of aggravated rape. If serious crime involving individuals with a learning disability can then be graded as to gravity along a continuum from sexual offence to arson, through to murder as the most serious, then the involvement of learning disabled people becomes less as the offence becomes more serious then the involvement of learning disabled people becomes less as the offence becomes more serious. Consequently, a conclusion of the paper concerning murder was that learning disabled people are not disproportionately involved. This is not true of arson, where learning disabled people are over-represented (however, this over-representation should be treated with some caution as there may be methodological problems within studies that support this finding). This paper, as with the paper concerned with murder (Read, 2008), shows that the predominant diagnoses of arsonists are those in the group of Disruptive Behaviour Disorders. Mental illness is a minority diagnosis amongst those firesetters who suffer from learning disability. This accords well with the Review findings of Whitaker and Read (2007), who evidenced that there is little to support the notion that learning disabled people suffer disproportionately high levels of mental illness. However, behaviour and personality disorders are over-represented. The aetiology of these conduct and personality disorders is not so clear and these review papers regarding murder and arson relate the common occurrence of environmental factors in the developmental years as being of direct relevance to the offending behaviour as well as the association with learning disability which dates from birth or very early years. Such observations are seen to have import with regard to treatment which is likely to be as much supervisory, educational and psychological as it is pharmacological. Medical treatment cannot be ignored as it represents the first step in psychiatric rehabilitation, involving as it does the drug treatment of conduct and personality disorders. However other treatment modalities, importantly individually tailored, are liable to be of great importance with regard to reducing risk of repeated offending

    Calendrier universel et perpétuel / par le commandeur P.-J. Arson ; publié par ses enfants [par le chevalier Gonzague Arson]

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    Appartient à l’ensemble documentaire : PACA1Avec mode text

    The recoverability of fingerprints on paper exposed to elevated temperatures - Part 1: comparison of enhancement techniques

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    This research investigates the recoverability of fingerprints which have been exposed to elevated temperatures in order to mimic the environment a piece of paper may be exposed to within an arson scene. Arson is an expensive crime, costing the UK economy, on average, £53.8 million each week [1]. Anything which may give rise to the identity of the fire setter should be analysed and as such, unburnt paper may be a potential source of fingerprints. While it is true that even a moderate fire will obscure and render partially useless some types of evidence, many items, including fingerprints, may still survive [2-4]. This research has shown that fingerprints are still retrievable from paper which has been subjected to the maximum testing conditions of 200˚C for 320min. In fact, some fingerprints naturally enhance themselves by the heating process. This investigation has also shown that the most effective enhancement technique was found to be 1,8-diazafluoren-9-one (DFO) for exposure temperatures upto 100˚C. Physical developer (PD) is the most effective enhancement technique for exposure temperatures from 100˚C to 200˚C. For porous surfaces, there are fingerprint development techniques which are effective at enhancing fingerprints exposed upto a temperature of 200˚C, irrespective of the firefighting extinguishing technique, as PD, in addition to developing fingerprints exposed to high temperatures, is one of the few processes which will enhance fingermarks on wetted surfaces

    Forest jihad : assessing the evidence for "popular resistance terrorism"

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    Despite increasing concern over the potential threat from “forest jihad,” there has been no systematic attempt to assess whether such attacks are in fact taking place. Drawing on principles from the geospatial profiling of terrorist events, fire-risk prediction data, and information on jihadist convictions, this article offers a thorough review of the evidence to address this question. The available information suggests that so far, jihadists have not attempted to attack North American or European wildlands by means of arson. Despite calls for “popular resistance terrorism” in the jihadist literature, and the apparently low costs associated with this type of attack, jihadists have so far shown little appetite for “forest jihad.”Peer reviewe

    Profiling arson

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    Criminal psychological profiling is the forensic technique of inferring personal, psychological, demographic, and behavioral characteristics of offenders based on crime scene evidence. While the majority of research concerning criminal profiling has been focused on the investigation of crimes of sexual violence such as murder and rape, criminal psychological profiling is frequently described as being applicable to the investigation of serial arson crimes, and the frequency with which psychological profiling has been used in the investigation of arson crimes has been growing steadily over the past 30 years (Drabsch 2004; Kocsis 2004, 2006; Turvey 1999). This current entry reviews the growing body of literature in relation to arson profiling, especially focusing on approaches that have published a specific methodology that applies to arson, as opposed to approaches that have a generalized methodology that is not necessarily differentiated for arson.<br/

    An act relating to arson and arson investigation; creating offenses.

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    Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to arson and arson investigation; creating offenses

    An assessment of arson and arson prevention practices in London

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    The research explores the nature of arson in London and examines the arson prevention practices across London. This research reviews current arson policy and guidance, assess practices selected in intervention and determine the effectiveness of multi-agency working in the capital
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