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Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately settingfire to or charringproperty. Although the act of arson typically involvesbuildings, the term can also refer to the intentionalburning of other things, such asmotor vehicles,watercraft, orforests. The crime is typically classified as afelony, with instances involving risk to human life or property carrying a stricter penalty. Arson that results in death can be further prosecuted asmanslaughter ormurder. A common motive for arson is to commitinsurance fraud.[1][2][3] In such cases, a person destroys their own property by burning it and then lies about the cause in order to collect against theirinsurance policy.[4] Arson is also often committed to conceal another crime, such as murder or burglary.[5]
A person who commits arson is referred to as anarsonist, or a serial arsonist if the person has committed arson several times. Arsonists normally use anaccelerant (such asgasoline orkerosene) to ignite, propel, and direct fires, and thedetection and identification of ignitable liquid residues is an important part of fire investigations.[6]Pyromania is animpulse control disorder characterized by the pathological setting of fires.[7] Most acts of arson are not committed by pyromaniacs.[7]
The term derives fromLaw Frencharsoun (late 13th century), fromOld Frencharsion, fromLate Latinārsiōnem "a burning," (acc.) from the verbardēre, "to burn."[8][9][10]
TheOld English term wasbærnet, lit. "burning"; andEdward Coke hasindictment ofburning (1640).Arsonist is from 1864.[11]
English Common Law defines arson as "the malicious burning of the dwelling of another."[12]
This definition has four elements:
Many U.S. state legal systems and the legal systems of several other countries divide arson into degrees, depending sometimes on the value of the property but more commonly on its use and whether the crime was committed in the day or night.
Many statutes vary the degree of the crime according to the criminal intent of the accused. Some US states use other degrees of arson, such as "fourth" and "fifth" degree,[16] while some states do not categorize arson by any degree. For example, in the state ofTennessee, arson is categorized as "arson" and "aggravated arson."
A common motive for arson is to commit insurance fraud. In such cases, a person destroys their own property by burning it and then lies about the cause in order to collect against theirinsurance policy.
An example of insurance fraud being the motivating factor for an act of arson is the case for Operation Firebird.[17] A married couple and four co-conspirators were arrested and convicted with arson and insurance fraud after a string of home, business, and warehouse fires which took place between 2014 and 2018 were exposed as acts of arson. Using chicken left in boiling frying oil, the convicted criminals would make fire seem like a cooking accident. Then, the group committed insurance fraud by filing insurance claims for the cost of the building, as well as smoke-damaged goods to claim fire damages for insurance payouts. The group's scheme claimed a reported $4 million and ended when authorities were tipped off as to where the location of the next planned incident would take place. Police then performed an investigation dubbed Operation Firebird with the San Jose Fire Department. According to a2019 Press Release from theCalifornia Department of Insurance, Tyler and Kim Chen, Ha Nguyen, Sandy Ngo, Duyen Pham, and Trang Huynh were all convicted of various degrees of arson and insurance fraud.
Tyler Chen was convicted of five separate counts of arson and two separate counts of insurance fraud in Santa Clara County in 2018. Tyler Chen's wife, Kim Chen, was convicted of two counts of insurance fraud in Santa Clara county.[18]
In theUnited States, thecommon law elements of arson are often varied in different jurisdictions. For example, the element of "dwelling" is no longer required in most states, and arson occurs by the burning of any real property without consent or with unlawful intent.[19] Arson is prosecuted with attention to degree of severity[20] in the alleged offense. First degree arson[21] generally occurs when people are harmed or killed in the course of the fire, while second degree arson occurs when significant destruction of property occurs.[22] While usually afelony, arson may also be prosecuted as amisdemeanor,[23] "criminal mischief", or "destruction of property."[24]Burglary also occurs, if the arson involved a "breaking and entering".[25] A person may besentenced to death if arson occurred as a method of homicide, as was the case inCalifornia ofRaymond Lee Oyler and inTexas ofCameron Todd Willingham.
After theGreat Chicago Fire in 1871, the United States started aNational Fire Prevention Week in order to educate the people on ways to prevent fires, minimize their damages, and hopefully drastically decrease casualties.[26] Fire
Prevention Week campaigns includes various information on safe cooking practices pertaining to grilling, microwaving, and cooking on a stove.
DuringWorld War II arson was a much higher concern in theUnited States. There was a severe lack offirefighters due to the fact that most of the men were overseas to fight the war. There were few men left behind to help combat forest fires. For example, during WW II in Eldora, Iowa, a fire chief reported that his regular membership shrank from 21 to 9 men and their fire fighting force recruited retired members and new members to fill the missing positions during the war.[27] Although there were few attempts to burn U.S. forests, it continued to be a big concern due to the potential detrimental effects. This concern for arson attempts led to the rise ofSmokey Bear who was the face of fire prevention and fire safety measures.[28][29] Although the intention of Smokey Bear's persona is to encouragefire safety, Smokey shares a message of fire prevention which includes accidental fires that can sometimes be legally charged as arson.
In New York, arson is charged in five degrees. Arson in the first degree is a Class A-1 felony and requires the intent to burn the building with a person inside using an explosive incendiary device. In New York, the criminal charge of arson includes a maximum sentence of 25 years to life.[30]
In California, a conviction for arson of property that is not one's own is a felony punishable by up to three years in state prison. Aggravated arson, which carries the most severe punishment for arson, is punishable by 10 years to life in state prison. A well-known example of arson which took place in California is theEsperanza Fire. Raymond Lee Oyler was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to death for a 2006 fire in southern California that led to the deaths of five U.S. Forest Service firefighters; he was the first U.S. citizen to receive such a conviction and penalty for wildfire arson.[31]
Some states, such as California, prosecute the lesser offense ofreckless burning when the fire is set recklessly as opposed to willfully and maliciously. The study of the causes is the subject offire investigation. A recent example of a reckless burning offense is theEl Dorado fire which took place in 2020 in California. This fire was caused by agender reveal party which utilized a smoke bomb which is categorized as unsafe pyrotechnics. The El Dorado fire burned over a 71-day period, destroyed 20 structures and resulted in one firefighter fatality, for which the couple hosting the party were charged withinvoluntary manslaughter.[32] The Esperanza Fire ultimately resulted in the death of firefighter Charles "Charlie" Morton, who became trapped while attempting to fight the fire. The DA of California considered arson charges for the family members as they were deemed negligent with regard to fire safety.[33]
InEnglish law, arson was a common law offence (except for the offence ofarson in royal dockyards)[34] dealing with the criminal destruction of buildings by fire. The common law offence was abolished by s.11(1) of theCriminal Damage Act 1971.[35] The 1971 Act makes no distinction as to mode of destruction except that s.1(3) requires that if the destruction is by fire, the offence is charged as arson; s.4 of the Act provides a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for conviction under s.1 whether or not the offence is charged as arson. In Hong Kong, the common law offence was abolished by s 67 of theCrimes Ordinance 1971 (Part VIII of which, as amended by Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance 1972,[36] mirrored the English Criminal Damage Act 1971).[37] Like the English counterparts, 63 of the 1972 Ordinance provides a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, and s 60(3) of the Ordinance requires that if the damage is by fire the offence should be charged as arson.
In the Burmese legal system, arson is considered "mischief by fire" under sections 435 and 436 of theMyanmar Penal Code and punishable by fine and imprisonment.[38] The statutes were last amended on 1 July 2016, and made arson on houses and buildings punishable with up to 20 years in prison.[38]
TheBurmese military has long used arson as aweapon of war against civilians.[39][40] From the2021 Myanmar coup d'état to August 2022, military forces committed arson on 28,434 houses in the country.[41]
While theScottish legal system has no offence known as arson statutorily defined, there are many offences that are used to charge those with acts that would normally constitute arson in other nations. Events constituting arson in English and Welsh law might be dealt with as one or more of a variety of offences such aswilful fire-raising,culpable and reckless conduct,vandalism or other offences depending on the circumstances of the event. The more serious offences (in particular wilful fire-raising and culpable and reckless conduct) can incur a sentence oflife imprisonment.
Ireland differentiates how it charges arson not by degree but rather by what is being destroyed and if anyone was harmed.[42] For example, while the sentence for setting fire to a building can be life imprisonment, the sentence for setting fire to goods in a building can only be up to fourteen years.[1]
A notable historical act of arson in Ireland is theburning of Wildgoose Lodge, which resulted in the arrest, sentencing, and execution of 18 men, many of whom were innocent.[43] More recently, the2023 Dublin riot involved instances of arson, with many such acts targeting vehicles.
At common law, the malicious burning of someone else's dwelling house or outhouse that is either appurtenant to the dwelling house or within the curtilage.
The dictionary definition ofarson at Wiktionary
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