Pacific Southwest

Title: Arsonists in California and New York: a tentative look

Author: Bradshaw, William G.; Huff, Timothy G.

Date: 1985

Source: Res. Note PSW-RN-372. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 5 p

Station ID: RN-PSW-372

Description: A nonrandom sample of 90 arsonists in California and New York was interviewed for the California Department of Forestry from 1977 to 1979. About two-thirds of them were in prison for arson, and the others were in mental hospitals. The 90 interviewees were mostly unmarried males ranging in age from 17 to 51 years. Survey results show that those who set their first arson fire at a young age tended to set many fires, and had more arson convictions and repeated visits to mental hospitals than those who set their first fire at an older age.

Keywords: arson, incendiarism, fire prevention, law enforcement, fire investigation, California, New York

View and Print this Publication (705 KB)

Publication Notes: 

• We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
• This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
• You may send email to pubrequest@fs.f ed.us to request a hard copy of this publication. (Please specify exactly which publication you are requesting and your mailing address.)

 Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility

Citation

Bradshaw, William G.; Huff, Timothy G.  1985.  Arsonists in California and New York: a tentative look.   Res. Note PSW-RN-372. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 5 p.