Typologies of Serial Arson: Explorative Study based on Latent Class Analysis

Abstract

Serial arson is a severe crime than other violent crimes in severity of damage. Nonetheless, there is rarely been studied in terms of motivation and crime scene behaviors. This study empirically aims to investigate typology of serial arson based on motives and crime scene actions for helping to solve arsons. By Latent Class Analysis (LCA), a sample of 39 serial arsonists from the Korean National Data-base (i.e., SCAS) was analyzed. A cross-tabulation analysis was conducted to see relationships between offenders’ motive and crime scene information. In addition, chi-square analyses were used in between arson types and sociodemographic characteristics. As a result, types of serial arsons were classified into three classes, respectively; hybrid, revenge, release on motives and distant-inside, distant-outside, nearby-inside on crime scene behaviors. The associations by these classes possibly provide importation source to hypothesize arsons’ motive from crime scene actions for efficient policing. This empirical study could put stepstone on the offenders’ profiling to prioritize suspect especially in fire investigation.