Forest arson in Portugal: criminal behaviour and gender differences

Abstract

Introduction/Background: Firesetting refers to the intentional act of use of fire with the purpose of damaging property. Starting a fire not only reveals an antisocial behavior but has also serious social economic implications for society. Although there are other possible causes for fires in general such as natural hazards, improper use of fire or accidental structural problems, intentional forest fires poses a serious problem and represents 13 to 20% of the causes of firesetting [1,2]. The incendiarism behavior can be defined by a set of risk factors that explain recidivism: the firesetter and setting of fire characteristics and the motivations associated to the committed crime. The aggressor gender is a distinguished variable in this characterization, since this behavior is seen more frequently in males (90%). The females associated with this type of crime have more specific traits, integrating an homogeneous criminal typology. The objective of this presentation is to show results of a comparative study based on a sample of Portuguese arsonists of both genders, in forest context, between 2015 and 2017. Methods: We studied 260 individuals, 25 were female (9.6%) and 235 were male (90.4%), between 14 and 86 years old. The variables were collected by the instrument “Summary Sheet - Risk Factors for Recidivism” (EPJ, 2015). The instrument is organized in three sections: 1) Offenders general characteristics (age, sex, education and profession), 2) Firesetting typology, 3) Criminal behaviour description and 4. Psychological and social firesetter characteristics. Collateral information was recollected through the consultation of the SPO (Judiciary Police Online Research System), for confirmation of sociodemographic data and criminal records. All work in this paper was conducted with the formal approval of the subjects and it follows the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Results: The results confirm that female show a more homogenous criminal typology than men. In general, women are represented in two main profiles: Profile A - Retaliatory Instrumental and Profile C- Clinical History, contrary to men that are represented in four criminal profiles (Profile A- Retaliatory Instrumental, Profile B- Benefic Instrumental, Profile C- Clinical History and Profile C1- Fire Attraction). Both genders share characteristics like: few social skills; difficulties in solving problems, in personal relationships as in integration in community; sustenance or unspecialized professions; type of burning area, time of occurrence and devices used. Concerning problems of psychological nature, men had more problems related to alcohol consumption than women, and women reported more mental health issues than men. Regarding motivation, female are essentially expressive, associating firesetting to anger and revenge drives, while male motivations are divided in two: expressive (78.44%) and instrumental (26.95%). Discussion and conclusions: The firesetters could be differentiated in terms of expressive or instrumental motivations [3]. Many of the incendiary behaviors presented by women are associated with situations of depression, family problems involving relationship problems and parental responsibilities conflicts. Women also may present no attraction by the fire and low levels of alcohol consumption when compared with men (2% in the moment of crime).