arson

The crime of maliciously, voluntarily, and willfully setting fire to the building, buildings, or other property of another or of burning one's own property for an improper purpose, as to collect insurance.

[Anglo-Norman, from Late Latin ārsiō, ārsiōn-, from Latin ārsus, past participle of ārdēre, to burn.]

Actual or attempted malicious and deliberate burning of a physical asset owned by another party. Coverage against arson is provided under property insurance, but only if the insured has not committed the arson. The property insurance business has long worked to discourage arson and to prosecute arsonists.

For more information on arson, visit Britannica.com.

At common law, the malicious burning or exploding of the dwelling house of another, or the burning of a building within the curtilage, the immediate surrounding space, of the dwelling of another.

Modern legislation has extended the definition of arson to include the burning or exploding of commercial and public buildings — such as restaurants and schools — and structures— such as bridges. In many states, the act of burn- ing any insured dwelling, regardless of whether it belongs to another, constitutes arson if it is done with an intent to defraud the insurer. Finally, the common-law rule that the property burned must belong to another person has been completely eliminated by statute in some states.

Elements

The main elements necessary to prove arson are evidence of a burning and evidence that a criminal act caused the fire. The accused must intend to burn a building or other structure. Absent a statutory description of the conduct required for arson, the conduct must be malicious, and not accidental. Malice, however, does not mean ill will. Intentional or outrageously reckless conduct is sufficient to constitute malice. Motive, on the other hand, is not an essential element of arson.

Unless a statute extends the crime to other property, only a house used as a residence, or buildings immediately surrounding it, can be the subject of arson. If a house is vacated, is closed up, or becomes unfit for human habitation, its burning will not constitute arson. A temporary absence from a dwelling will not negate its character as a residence.

Generally, the actual presence of a person within a dwelling at the moment it is burned is not necessary. It may, however, be required for a particular degree of the crime. The fact, and not the knowledge, of human occupancy is what is essential. If a dwelling is burned under the impression that it is uninhabited when people actually live in it, the crime is committed.

Absent a statute to the contrary, a person is innocent of arson if that individual burns his or her own property while living there. The common exception to this rule is the burning of one's own property with an intent to defraud or prejudice the property insurer. In addition, under statutes that punish the burning of a dwelling house without expressly requiring it to be the property of another, a person who burns his or her own property might be guilty of arson. An owner, for purposes of arson, is the person who possesses the house and has the care, control, and management of it. In those states that have maintained the common-law rule that the property burned must belong to another person, an owner who burns his or her house while it is in the possession of a lawful tenant is guilty of arson.

Degrees

In many states arson is divided into degrees, depending sometimes on the value of the property but more commonly on its use and whether the crime was committed in the day or night. A typical statute might make the burning of an inhabited dwelling house at night first-degree arson, the burning of a building close enough to a dwelling so as to endanger it second-degree arson, and the burning of any structure with an intent to defraud an insurer thereof, third-degree arson. Many statutes vary the degree of the crime according to the criminal intent of the accused.

Punishment

Arson is a serious crime that was punishable by death under the common law. Presently, it is classified as a felony under most statutes, punishable by either imprisonment or death. Many jurisdictions impose prison sentences commensurate with the seriousness of the criminal intent of the accused. A finding, therefore, that the offense was committed intentionally will result in a longer prison sentence than a finding that it was done recklessly. When a human life is endangered, the penalty is most severe.

Look up arson in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

"Arsonists" redirects here. For the hip hop band, see Arsonists (rap group).

Criminal law

Part of the common law series

Elements

Actus reus · Mens rea Causation · Concurrence

Scope of Criminal Liability

Complicity · Corporate · Vicarious

Inchoate offenses

Attempt · Conspiracy · Solicitation

Crimes against persons

Assault · Battery False imprisonment · Kidnapping Mayhem · Sexual assault Homicide Crimes Murder · Felony murder Manslaughter Negligent homicide Vehicular homicide

Crimes against property

Arson · Blackmail · Burglary Embezzlement · Extortion False pretenses · Larceny Receiving stolen property Robbery · Theft

Crimes against justice

Compounding · Misprision Obstruction · Perjury Malfeasance in office Perverting the course of justice

Defenses to Liability

Defense of: (Self · Others · Property) Consent · Diminished capacity Duress · Entrapment · Ignorance Infancy · Insanity · Intoxication Justification · Mistake (Fact · Law) Necessity · Provocation

Other common law areas

Contracts · Evidence · Property Torts · Wills, trusts and estates

Portals

Criminal justice · Law

v • d • e

The Skyline Parkway Motel at Rockfish Gap after arson on July 9, 2004.

Arson^[1] is the crime of deliberately and maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas.^[2] It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires caused by lightning for example. The study of the causes is the subject of fire investigation. Fires set to the property of another or to one's own property may be for an improper purpose, such as to collect insurance compensation.^[3]

Contents 1 Legal definitions 1.1 Common law 1.2 United States 1.3 England and Wales 1.4 Scotland 2 See also 3 References 4 Notes 5 External links

Legal definitions

Common law

Arson (or fire-raising, as it is known in Scotland)^[4] is defined as "the malicious burning of the dwelling of another" ^[5]" in common law.

The prosecutor must prove each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.^[6]

Arson was punished at common law as a felony in the eighteenth century. The destruction of an unoccupied building was not considered as arson, "[s]ince arson protected habitation, the burning of an unoccupied house did not constitute arson." Furthermore, "[t]he burning of one's own dwelling to collect insurance did not constitute common law arson. It was generally assumed in early England that one had the legal right to destroy his own property in any manner he chose."^[7]

United States

In the U.S., the common law elements of arson are often varied in different jurisdictions. For example, the element of "dwelling" is no longer required in most states, and arson occurs by the burning of any real property without consent or with unlawful intent.^[8]

Arson is prosecuted with attention to degree of severity^[9] in the alleged offense. First degree arson^[10] generally occurs when persons are harmed or killed in the course of the fire, while second degree arson occurs when significant destruction of property occurs.^[11] Arson may also be prosecuted as a misdemeanor,^[12] "criminal mischief", or "destruction of property."^[13] Burglary also occurs, if the arson involved a "breaking and entering".^[14] A criminal may be sentenced to death penalty if arson occurred as a method of homicide, as was the recent case in California of Raymond Lee Oyler and in Texas of Cameron Willingham.

England and Wales

In English law, arson was a common law offence which was recently defined again and codified by the Criminal Damage Act 1971.

See also: Criminal damage in English law#Arson

Scotland

In Scots Law, the term "fire raising" is the equivalent term used instead of arson, but both mean the same.

See also

Fire portal

• ATF Fire Research Laboratory
• Bomb
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
• FBI
• Firebombing
• Fire investigation
• Gävle goat
• Herostratus
• Incendiary device
• Insurance fraud
• Letter bomb
• Mass murder
• Pyromania
• Reckless burning
• School shooting
• Terrorism
• Wildfire
• John Magno
• John Leonard Orr

References

• Karki, Sameer (2002) (PDF), Community Involvement in and Management of Forest Fires in South East Asia, Project FireFight South East Asia, http://www.asiaforests.org/doc/resources/fire/pffsea/Report_Community.pdf, retrieved 2009-02-13 
• White, J. & Dalby, J. T., 2000. Arson. In D. Mercer, T. Mason, M. McKeown, G. McCann (Eds) Forensic Mental Health Care. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingston. ISBN 0-443-06140-8

Notes

This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (September 2009)

1. ^ arson 1680, from Anglo-French. arsoun (1275), from Old French arsion, from L.L. arsionem (nom. arsio) "a burning," from L. arsus pp. of ardere "to burn," from PIE base *as- "to burn, glow" (see ardent). The Old English term was bærnet, lit. "burning;" and Coke has indictment of burning (1640). Arsonist is from 1864. Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. [1] (accessed: January 27, 2008)
2. ^ Kumar, Kris (February 2008). "Deliberately lit vegetation fires in Australia". Trends and issues in crime and criminal justice (Lynnwood: Australian Institute of Criminology) (350). ISBN 978 1 921185 71 7. ISSN 0817-8542. http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi2/tandi350.html. Retrieved 2009-01-09. 
3. ^ arson. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. [2] (accessed: January 27, 2008)
4. ^ "Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland 2005/2006". http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/11/29160835/4. Retrieved 2008-10-06. 
5. ^ 4 Blackstone, Commentaries (21st ed.) p. 220
6. ^ Christopher B. Mueller & Laird C. Kirkpatrick, 1 Federal Evidence § 77 ( 2d ed. 2003) ( “[T]he ‘presumption of innocence’ .... is a way of forcefully emphasizing to the jury that the prosecutor has the obligation to prove each element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt, that the accused bears no proof burden whatsoever with respect to any element of the crime, and that no adverse inference should be drawn against [the accused] from the fact of [ ] arrest, indictment, or presence in court.”)
7. ^ "Arson: Legal Aspects - Common Law Arson". Law Library - American Law and Legal Information. http://law.jrank.org/pages/535/Arson-Legal-Aspects-Common-law-arson.html. Retrieved 2008-05-10. 
8. ^ See U.S. v. Miller, 246 Fed.Appx. 369 (C.A.6 (Tenn.) 2007); U.S. v. Velasquez-Reyes, 427 F.3d 1227, 1230-1231 and n. 2 (9th Cir.2005).
9. ^ "Campus Crime: Crime Codes and Degree of Severity". California State University, Monterey Bay. http://www.csumb.edu/site/x7006.xml. Retrieved 2008-05-10. 
10. ^ See U.S. v. Miller, 246 Fed.Appx. 369 (C.A.6 (Tenn.) 2007)
11. ^ Garofoli, Joe (September 1, 2007). "Suspect in Burning Man arson decries event's loss of spontaneity". San Francisco Chronicle: p. A8. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/01/MN8LRTBBN.DTL. Retrieved 2008-05-11. 
12. ^ "Reason for Referral". Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. http://www.ncc.state.ne.us/statistics/data_search/jcr/jcr_referrals.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-11. 
13. ^ "Man accused of arson pleads to misdemeanor charges". The Salina Journal. January 25, 2008. http://www.saljournal.com/rdnews/story/Salinan_pleads_no_contest_to_misdemeanor_charges_1_25_08. Retrieved 2008-05-11. 
14. ^ 3 Charles E. Torcia, Wharton's Criminal Law § 326 (14th ed. 1980)

External links

• Media related to Arsons at Wikimedia Commons

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - brandstiftelse, ildspåsættelse

Nederlands (Dutch)
brandstichting

Français (French)
n. - incendie criminel

Deutsch (German)
n. - Brandstiftung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - εμπρησμός

Italiano (Italian)
incendio doloso

Português (Portuguese)
n. - incêndio (m) culposo

Русский (Russian)
поджег

Español (Spanish)
n. - incendio intencionado, incendio premeditado

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - mordbrand

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
纵火, 纵火罪

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 縱火, 縱火罪

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 방화[죄]

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 放火

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) احراق المباني عن عمد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮הצתה בזדון‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.