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Sifting Through the Ashes: Processing Arsonists in Juvenile Justice

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Abstract

National estimates have suggested that less than one-in-five arsons are cleared by arrest. Interestingly, juveniles account for nearly 50% of arson arrests, a proportion greater than all other non-status offenses. While the criminological literature on juvenile arson has been fairly consistent, a dearth of applied criminological literature has observed how the juvenile justice system responds to arsonists. Drawing on data on more than 5,000 juveniles from a large southern state, this study was able to differentiate between the system responses for arsonists and other felons. The findings suggested that the juvenile justice system distinguished between arsonists and other felons in some respects, but these distinctions failed to align with the suggested approaches of the criminological literature.

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Notes

  1. We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer that suggested more comprehensive descriptive statistics on intentionally set fires in the United States. Readers interested in these reports should visit the United States Fire Administration’s website at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/.

  2. Several factors may contribute to the disproportionately high number of arsons cleared by a juvenile arrest. First, given the impulsive nature and familial dysfunctions (Becker et al., 2004; Kolko & Kazdin, 1990; Sakheim & Osborn, 1986), juvenile arson appears to be a poorly planned out event at best and, at worst, an outcry for relief from the arsonists’ environments. In either case, identification of a suspect is much easier for law enforcement when the suspect lacks criminal sophistication or acts impulsively.

  3. While there have been a limited number of scholarly efforts focused on how best to respond to juvenile arsonist, governmental agencies have established the need and called for further exploration of this topic. For example, both the U.S. Fire Administration and the Australian Bushfire Arson Prevention Initiative have published work promoting prevention and intervention strategies.

  4. The purpose of providing the sample characteristics is for a general understanding of the sample, not to make any inferences about the population of referrals or offenders.

  5. Aligning with previous research, our preliminary findings (not represented in tabular form) suggested that these arsonists were more likely to experience established risk factors of arson (e.g., behavioral health manifestations) and less likely to exhibit previous criminal associations or behaviors.

  6. The variance inflation factors (VIF) to test for multicollinearity among the independent variables was within the acceptable range (Gujarati, 2003), with the mean VIF = 1.10 and all independent variables being less than 1.37.

  7. The multinomial logistic regression model of case disposition level was significant (χ 2 = 407.33, p < .01). Additionally, the Small-Hsiao test for independence of irrelevant alternatives (IIA) (Long & Freese, 2006) suggested that the model met the model assumption.

  8. The model significantly predicted the type of community supervision (χ 2 = 673.37, p < .01) and the Small-Hsiao test failed to reject the null hypothesis, supporting the IIA (Long & Freese, 2006).

  9. The model significantly predicted treatment focused programming (χ 2 = 73.21, p < .01), with 2,003 youth of the sample being placed in some form of specialized program.

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Acknowledgement

A previous version of this manuscript was presented at the 2010 American Society of Criminology annual meeting.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, California State University, Chico, Chico, CA, 95929-0455, USA

    Jonathan W. Caudill

  2. Program in Criminology, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd., GR-31, Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA

    Brie Diamond

  3. Department of Criminal Justice, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Cir. #305130, Denton, TX, 76203, USA

    Chad R. Trulson

  4. Criminal Justice Studies, Iowa State University, 203A East Hall, Ames, IA, 50011-1070, USA

    Matt DeLisi

  5. School of Economics, Political, & Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd., Richardson, TX, 75080-3021, USA

    James W. Marquart

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  1. Jonathan W. Caudill
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  2. Brie Diamond
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Correspondence to Jonathan W. Caudill.

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Caudill, J.W., Diamond, B., Trulson, C.R. et al. Sifting Through the Ashes: Processing Arsonists in Juvenile Justice. Am J Crim Just 37, 306–320 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-011-9142-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-011-9142-2

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