Interventions with arsonists and young fire setters: A survey of the national picture in England and Wales

Abstract

Objectives. Arson is a serious problem that has high costs in both financial and non‐financial terms. It is important that effective provision to intervene with arsonists and young fire setters is available. Method. A national survey was conducted of organizations delivering interventions to arsonists and young fire setters. This survey included fire and rescue services, probation areas, youth offending services, forensic mental health units, several government departments, and the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders. The survey was followed by site visits to eight organizations to conduct interviews with relevant staff. Results. The majority of interventions for children and adolescents were provided by fire and rescue services, often in conjunction with local youth offending services. Some forensic mental health units provided interventions, but no specialist provision for arsonists appeared to be available in either the prison or probation services. The site visits and interviews revealed areas of good practice across the organizations visited, and highlighted areas where developments might be made to improve services. Conclusions. The findings are discussed in light of the available literature, and recommendations made for future practice.

Firesetting: Psychopathology, theory and treatment

“…For example, there are currently no standardized treatments for firesetters in the UK (see Palmer, Caulfield, & Hollin, 2005, US (M. Rice, personal communication, March 17, 2009), or Australasia (K. Fritzon, personal communication, March 23, 2009. It is unclear exactly why this is the case.…”

“…As other professionals have recently noted (Palmer et al, 2005), the adult interventions that have been documented for firesetters are typically cognitive behavioral and implemented in psychiatric settings (e.g., Smith & Short, 1995;Swaffer et al, 2001;Taylor et al, 2002;Taylor, Thorne, & Slavkin, 2004), although there are some reports of behavioral aversion therapy (Royer, Flynn, & Osadca, 1971) and social skills treatment (Rice & Chaplin, 1979). Furthermore, it is somewhat unsurprising to note that many reported treatment efforts are susceptible to much variation (see Haines et al, 2006or Palmer et al, 2007.…”

“…Furthermore, it is somewhat unsurprising to note that many reported treatment efforts are susceptible to much variation (see Haines et al, 2006or Palmer et al, 2007. The danger with this, of course, is that professionals worldwide approach the treatment of firesetting in vastly different ways according to their own understanding of the extremely scant research evidence and theoretical perspectives most of which are based on aged evidence gained from psychiatric populations.…”

“…Prison Service, UK; Palmer et al 2007). Yet, we believe that for individuals who use fire repetitively as part of a wider array of criminal acts, or for whom firesetting has become part of their personal identity, generic offending behavior programs may not prove to be the most effective treatment that we are able to provide.…”

Specialist group therapy for psychological factors associated with firesetting: Evidence of a treatment effect from a non-randomized trial with male prisoners

“…These latter property costs represent only a small amount of those incurred since they do not include some of the wider costs associated with firesetting (firefighting, or health costs or costs associated with wildfire damage). In the UK, there were 53,000 deliberately set fires and 451 fire- convincing evidence of 'What Works' to reduce deliberate firesetting behavior (Fritzon, Doley, & Clark, 2013;Gannon & Pina, 2010;Palmer, Caulfield, & Hollin, 2007).…”