Arson

By Sofia

Arson

thanks

STATISTICS

notable cases

Laws in the uk

What is arson?

index

sO... WHAT IS ARSON?

01

• Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercraft, or forests.

• 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 their insurance policy.

• A person who commits arson is referred to as an arsonist, or a serial arsonist if arson has been committed several times.

• Pyromania is an impulse control disorder characterized by the pathological setting of fires, however most acts of arson are not committed by pyromaniacs.

aRSONISTS

How is arson prosecuted in the uk?

02

Triable either way Maximum: Life imprisonment Offence range: Discharge – 8 years’ custody

Courts should consider requesting a report from: liaison and diversion services, a medical practitioner, or where it is necessary, ordering a psychiatric report, to ascertain both whether the offence is linked to a mental disorder or learning disability and whether any mental health disposal should be considered.

THE COURT SHOULD ASSESS CULPABILITY AND HARM

Step 1 – Determining the offence category

cULPABILITY

The level of culpability is determined by weighing up all the factors of the case. Where there are characteristics present which fall under different levels of culpability, the court should balance these characteristics to reach a fair assessment of the offender’s culpability.

LESSER

MEDIUM

HIGH

• Little or no planning; offence committed on impulse
• Recklessness as to whether some damage to property caused
• Offender’s responsibility substantially reduced by mental disorder or learning disability
• Involved through coercion, intimidation or exploitation

• Some planning
• Recklessness as to whether very serious damage caused to property
• Recklessness as to whether serious injury caused to persons

• High degree of planning or premeditation
• Revenge attack
• Use of accelerant
• Intention to cause very serious damage to property
• Intention to create a high risk of injury to persons

tYPES OF CULPABILITY

hARM

The level of harm is assessed by weighing up all the factors of the case.

03

02

01

• No or minimal physical and/or psychological harm caused
• Low value of damage caused

• Harm that falls between categories 1 and 3

• Serious physical and/or psychological harm caused
• Serious consequential economic or social impact of offence
• High value of damage caused

tYPES OF HARM

Having determined the category at step one, the court should use the corresponding starting point to reach a sentence. The starting point applies to all offenders irrespective of plea or previous convictions.

sTEP TWO-Starting point and category range

EXCEPTIONS

Where the offender suffers from a medical condition that is susceptible to treatment but does not warrant detention under a hospital order, a community order with a mental health treatment requirement may be a proper alternative to a short or moderate custodial sentence.

Where the offender is dependent on or has a propensity to misuse drugs or alcohol, which is linked to the offending, a community order with a drug rehabilitation requirement , or an alcohol treatment requirement may be a proper alternative to a short or moderate custodial sentence.

mental health

Drugs and alcohol misuse

&

Category range: Discharge – High level community order

Starting point: Low level community order

Category range: Medium level Community order – 9 months’ custody

Starting point: High level community order

Category range: 6 months – 2 years’ custody

Starting point: 1 year’s custody

Category range: Medium level community order – 9 months’ custody

Starting point: High level community order

Category range: 6 months – 1 year 6 months’ custody

Starting point: 9 months’ custody

Category range: 1 – 4 years’ custody

Starting point: 2 years’ custody

Category range: 6 months – 1 year 6 months’ custody

Starting point: 9 months’ custody

Category range: 9 months – 3 years’ custody

Starting point: 1 year 6 months’ custody

Category range: 2 – 8 years’ custody

Starting point: 4 years’ custody

Category Three

Category Two

Category One

Culpability

Harm

The court should then consider any adjustment for any aggravating or mitigating factors:

STATUTORY AGGRAVATING FACTORS

• Previous convictions, having regard to a) the nature of the offence to which the conviction relates and its relevance to the current offence; and b) the time that has elapsed since the conviction

• Offence committed whilst on bail

• Offence motivated by, or demonstrating hostility based on any of the following characteristics or presumed characteristics of the victim: religion, race, disability, sexual orientation, or transgender identity

other aggravating factors

• Commission of offence whilst under the influence of alcohol or drugs
• Offence committed for financial gain
• Offence committed to conceal other offences
• Victim is particularly vulnerable
• Offence committed within a domestic context
• Fire set in or near a public amenity

• Damage caused to heritage and/or cultural assets
• Significant impact on emergency services or resources
• Established evidence of community/wider impact
• Failure to comply with current court orders
• Offence committed on licence or post sentence supervision
• Offences taken into consideration

Factors reducing seriousness or reflecting personal mitigation

• No previous convictions or no relevant/recent convictions
• Steps taken to minimise the effect of the fire or summon assistance
• Remorse
• Good character and/or exemplary conduct
• Serious medical condition requiring urgent, intensive or long-term treatment

• Age and/or lack of maturity
• Mental disorder or learning disability (where not taken into account at step one)
• Sole or primary carer for dependent relatives
• Determination and/or demonstration of steps having been taken to address addiction or offending behaviour

The court should take into account reduction in sentence for assistance to prosecution and any other rule of law by virtue of which an offender may receive a discounted sentence in consequence of assistance given (or offered) to the prosecutor or investigator.

Step 3 – Consider any factors which indicate a reduction, such as assistance to the prosecution

The court should take account of any potential reduction for a guilty plea.

Step 4 – Reduction for guilty pleas

Step 5 – Dangerousness

The court should consider whether it would be appropriate to impose a life sentence or an extended sentence. .

If sentencing an offender for more than one offence, or where the offender is already serving a sentence, consider whether the total sentence is just and proportionate to the overall offending behaviour in accordance with the Totality guideline (The principle of totality applies when sentencing an offender for multiple offences or when sentencing an offender who is already serving an existing sentence).

Step 6 – Totality principle

In all cases, the court must consider whether to make a compensation order and/or other ancillary orders. The court should consider compensation orders in all cases where personal injury, loss or damage has resulted from the offence. The court must give reasons if it decides not to award compensation in such cases .

Step 7 – Compensation and ancillary orders

Step 8 – Reasons

Section 52 of the Sentencing Code imposes a duty to give reasons for, and explain the effect of, the sentence.

Step 9 – Consideration for time spent on bail (tagged curfew)

The court must consider whether to give credit for time spent on bail.

NOTABLE CASES

03

Andrew Thorne, Great Chesterford

Charged with 28 arson offences after a series of fires across part of Essex. Police said the fires were mostly in wheelie bins or dog waste bins, but one was on a train station platform and others in bus shelters and bushes.

steve fleming, chelmsford

Has been charged with attempted arson with intent to endanger life, possessing an imitation firearm, two counts of criminal damage and five counts of assaulting an emergency worker.

Local

mARGARET cLARK

1 February 1680- the Delanoy family were at their country home in Lee. Three fires were started in the house; they were put out by local people and Clark was arrested on the night after arousing suspicions by acting strangely. At first, she denied the charge but then quickly admitted arson. She claimed that she had been approached by John Satterthwayt in late January and he had asked her to let him into the house in order to set it on fire. Clark alleged that he had promised to pay her £2,000 (equivalent to £340,000 in 2021). Clark was detained and stood trial at Kingston assizes on 13 March. Clark was found guilty and sentenced to death.

jONATHAN mARTIN

Sunday 1 February 1829- he became upset by a buzzing sound in the organ while attending evensong at York Minster. He hid in the building, and then lit a lamp in the belltower. . Later that night, he set fire to the woodwork in the choir before escaping through a window. Smoke was seen coming out of the building at 7am on 2 February, and the fire was raging through the organ and choir by 8am.

HISTORICAL

USA- BOSTON

• 9 men, including 3 Boston cops and a Boston firefighter, burned Boston and surrounding communities in the early 1980s due to tax-cutting measures that caused layoffs of hundreds of police and firefighters. Over 2 years, these fire fighters turned arsonists, torched 264 buildings, causing millions of dollars in damages and hundreds of injuries.

sTATISTICS

04

In the UK

0.8%

During 2022, England & Wales's police forces received 496,760 crime reports about criminal damage and arson. This is an increase of 3.3% from 2021's figure of 481,062 reports of criminal damage and arson, giving an overall crime rate of 8 per 1,000 people in 2022 and a rate of 8 per 1,000 people for 2021..

Russian mystery fires are a series of unusual fires and explosions that have occurred since the invasion of Ukraine

79 ARRESTED

OF ALL FIRES CAUSED BY ARSON

WILDFIRES IN GREECE IN JULY WERE MAINLY ARSON

AROUND 90% OF BUSHFIRES BELIEVED TO BE RECKLESSLY LIT

25%

worldwide

Arson/criminal damge charges per 1,000 people in Essex.

0.71%

Of arson affected structures.

>42%

Of arsonists are men.

85%

Some statistics

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

05

LAW SOCIETY DOES NOT CONDONE CRIMINAL DAMAGE, INCLUDING ARSON IN ANY WAY, FOR ANY REASON.

H.G.WELLS

Arson, after all, is an artificial crime...A large number of houses deserve to be burnt.

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