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{{Redirect|Arsonists|the hip hop band|Arsonists (rap group)}}
Arson is when you set stuff on fire. It is perfectly legal. Do not worry.
{{redirect|Torched|the Michael Hedges album|Torched (album)}}
{{Criminal law}}
[[Image:Skyline Parkway Motel Burned.jpg|thumb|280px|right|The Skyline Parkway Motel at [[Rockfish Gap]] after arson on July 9, 2004.]]

{{Globalize|date=May 2011}}
'''Arson'''<ref>'''arson''' 1680, from [[Anglo-Norman language|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. [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arson] (accessed: January 27, 2008)</ref> (or 'fire-raising', as it is known in Scotland) is the [[crime]] of intentionally or maliciously lighting structures, [[wildland]] areas,<ref>
{{cite journal
| url = http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi2/tandi350.html
| title = Deliberately lit vegetation fires in Australia
| journal = Trends and issues in crime and criminal justice
| issue = 350
| isbn = 978-1-921185-71-7
| issn = 0817-8542
| publisher = Australian Institute of Criminology
| last = Kumar
| first = Kris
| pages =
| location = Lynnwood
| date = February 2008
| accessdate = 2009-01-09
|archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080722133206/http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi2/tandi350.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2008-07-22}}
</ref> cars<ref name="cbsnews arson car fires">{{cite news | url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500188_162-57350522/cops-race-to-stop-hollywood-area-arson-car-fires/ | title=Cops race to stop Hollywood-area arson car fires | work=[[CBS News]] | date=December 31, 2011 | accessdate=January 23, 2012 | quote=Several more cars burned in suspected arson attacks [...]}}</ref><ref name="newburytoday car fire was arson">{{cite news | url=http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/News/Article.aspx?articleID=18960 | title=Kintbury car fire was arson | work=[[Newbury Weekly News]] | date=January 19, 2012 | accessdate=January 23, 2012 | quote=A car fire [...] is being treated as arson.}}</ref> or other property on fire. It may be distinguished from other causes such as [[spontaneous combustion]] and natural [[wildfire]]s. Arson often involves fires deliberately set to the property of another or to one's own property as to collect [[insurance]] compensation.<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arson '''arson''']. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Accessed: January 27, 2008)</ref>

==Legal definitions==
===Common law===
Arson (or fire-raising, as it is known in Scotland)<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/11/29160835/4 | title = Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland 2005/2006 | accessdate = 2008-10-06}}</ref> is defined as "the malicious burning of the dwelling of another"<ref>4 Blackstone, Commentaries (21st ed.) p. 220</ref> in [[common law]]. It has four elements.

The elements are:
#The malicious
#burning
#of the dwelling
#of another

:'''The malicious''' - for purposes of common law arson "malicious" means action creating a great risk of a burning. It is not required that the defendant acted intentionally or willfully for the purpose of burning a dwelling.
:'''burning''' - at common law charring to any part of dwelling was sufficient to satisfy this element. No significant amount of damage to the dwelling was required. On the other hand mere discoloration from smoke was insufficient. Actual damage to the material from which the structure was built is required.<ref name="en.wikipedia.org">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charring</ref> Damage to surface coverings such as carpets and wallpaper is insufficient.<ref name="en.wikipedia.org"/> Arson was not limited to the burning of wooden structures. Any injury or damage to the structure caused by exposure to heat or flame is sufficient.
:'''of the dwelling''' - dwelling means a place of residence. 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." At common law a structure did not become a residence until the first occupants had moved in and ceased to be a dwelling if the occupants abandoned the premises with no intention of resuming their residency.<ref>Boyce & Perkins, Criminal Law, 3rd ed. (1992) at 280&81.</ref> Dwelling includes structures and outbuildings within the curtilage.<ref name="Boyce 1992">Boyce & Perkins, Criminal Law, 3rd ed. (1992) at 281.</ref> Dwellings were not limited to houses. A barn could be the subject of arson if it was occupied as a dwelling.
:'''of another''' - burning one's own dwelling does not constitute common law arson. However, for purposes of common law arson possession or occupancy rather than title determines whose dwelling the structure is.<ref name="Boyce 1992"/> Thus a tenant who sets fire to his rented house would not be guilty of common law arson,<ref name="Boyce 1992"/> while the landlord who set fire to a rented dwelling house would be guilty.

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."<ref name="JRANK">{{cite web
|url=http://law.jrank.org/pages/535/Arson-Legal-Aspects-Common-law-arson.html
|title=Arson: Legal Aspects - Common Law Arson
|accessdate=2008-05-10
|publisher=Law Library - American Law and Legal Information

}}</ref>

===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.<ref>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).</ref> Arson is prosecuted with attention to degree of severity<ref name="CSUMB">{{cite web
|url=http://www.csumb.edu/site/x7006.xml
|title=Campus Crime: Crime Codes and Degree of Severity
|accessdate=2008-05-10
|publisher=California State University, Monterey Bay

}}</ref> in the alleged offense. First degree arson<ref>See U.S. v. Miller, 246 Fed.Appx. 369 (C.A.6 (Tenn.) 2007)</ref> 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.<ref name="Burning Man">{{cite news
|first=Joe
|last=Garofoli
|title=Suspect in Burning Man arson decries event's loss of spontaneity
|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/01/MN8LRTBBN.DTL
|work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]
|page=A8
|date=September 1, 2007
|accessdate=2008-05-11

}}</ref> While usually a [[felony]], arson may also be prosecuted as a [[misdemeanor]],<ref name="Nebraska">{{cite web
|url=http://www.ncc.state.ne.us/statistics/data_search/jcr/jcr_referrals.htm
|title=Reason for Referral
|accessdate=2008-05-11
|publisher=Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice}}</ref>
"[[mischief|criminal mischief]]", or "[[Property damage|destruction]] of [[property]]."<ref name="Salinas">{{cite news
|title=Man accused of arson pleads to misdemeanor charges
|url=http://www.saljournal.com/rdnews/story/Salinan_pleads_no_contest_to_misdemeanor_charges_1_25_08
|work=[[The Salina Journal]]
|date=January 25, 2008
|accessdate=2008-05-11

}}</ref>
[[Burglary]] also occurs, if the arson involved a "breaking and entering".<ref>3 Charles E. Torcia, Wharton's Criminal Law § 326 (14th ed. 1980)</ref> A person may be sentenced to [[death penalty|death]] 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]].

Some states, such as California, prosecute the lesser offense of "reckless burning" when the fire is set recklessly as opposed to willfully and maliciously.<ref>[http://www.shouselaw.com/arson.html California arson and reckless burning laws under Penal Code 451 and 452]</ref> The study of the causes is the subject of [[fire investigation]].

===England and Wales===
In [[English law]], arson was a common law offence<ref>{{Cite book|author=[[William Blackstone]]|chapter=Of Offenses against the Habitations of Individuals &#91;Book the Fourth, Chapter the Sixteenth&#93;|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/blackstone/bk4ch16.htm|title=[[Commentaries on the Laws of England]]|location=Oxford|publisher=[[Oxford University Press|Clarendon Press]] (reproduced on The Avalon Project at [[Yale Law School]])|year=1765–1769|accessdate=2008-06-01|postscript=<!--None-->}}.</ref> which was recently defined again and codified by the [[Criminal Damage Act 1971]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1971/cukpga_19710048_en_1 |title=Criminal Damage Act 1971 |publisher=www.opsi.gov.uk |accessdate=2010-03-24 }}</ref>
{{See also|Criminal damage in English law#Arson}}

===Scotland===
{{Unreferenced section|date=March 2010}}
In [[Scots Law]], the term "willful fire raising" is the equivalent term used instead of arson, but both mean the same.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Fire}}
* [[Fire investigation]]
* [[Gävle goat]]
* [[Herostratus]]
* [[Insurance fraud]]
* [[John Leonard Orr]]
* [[John Magno]]
* [[Pyromania]]
* [[Reckless burning]]
* [[Vítkov arson attack of 2009]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book | title = Community Involvement in and Management of Forest Fires in South East Asia | url = http://www.asiaforests.org/doc/resources/fire/pffsea/Report_Community.pdf | format = PDF | year = 2002 | publisher = Project FireFight South East Asia | last = Karki | first = Sameer | accessdate = 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

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|arson}}
{{Commons category-inline|Arsons}}
* [http://www.firesafe.org.uk/how-to-combat-arson/ How to combat arson]
[[Category:Arson| ]]
[[Category:Crimes]]
[[Category:Firelighting]]

[[ar:الحرق]]
[[bg:Палеж]]
[[cs:Žhářství]]
[[da:Brandstiftelse]]
[[de:Brandstiftung]]
[[es:Delito de incendio]]
[[fr:Incendie#Incendies volontaires]]
[[ko:방화]]
[[he:הצתה (פשע)]]
[[ms:Pembakaran sengaja]]
[[nl:Brandstichting]]
[[ja:放火罪]]
[[no:Brannstiftelse]]
[[pl:Podpalenie]]
[[pt:Incêndio (crime)]]
[[ru:Поджог]]
[[simple:Arson]]
[[sl:Požig]]
[[sh:Palež]]
[[fi:Tuhopoltto]]
[[sv:Mordbrand]]
[[uk:Підпал]]
[[ur:آتش زنی]]
[[zh-yue:放火]]
[[zh:縱火]]

Revision as of 22:35, 7 April 2012

"Arsonists" redirects here. For the hip hop band, see Arsonists (rap group).
"Torched" redirects here. For the Michael Hedges album, see Torched (album).
Criminal law
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The Skyline Parkway Motel at Rockfish Gap after arson on July 9, 2004.

Arson[1] (or 'fire-raising', as it is known in Scotland) is the crime of intentionally or maliciously lighting structures, wildland areas,[2] cars[3][4] or other property on fire. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires. Arson often involves fires deliberately set to the property of another or to one's own property as to collect insurance compensation.[5]

Common law

Arson (or fire-raising, as it is known in Scotland)[6] is defined as "the malicious burning of the dwelling of another"[7] in common law. It has four elements.

The elements are:

  1. The malicious
  2. burning
  3. of the dwelling
  4. of another
The malicious - for purposes of common law arson "malicious" means action creating a great risk of a burning. It is not required that the defendant acted intentionally or willfully for the purpose of burning a dwelling.
burning - at common law charring to any part of dwelling was sufficient to satisfy this element. No significant amount of damage to the dwelling was required. On the other hand mere discoloration from smoke was insufficient. Actual damage to the material from which the structure was built is required.[8] Damage to surface coverings such as carpets and wallpaper is insufficient.[8] Arson was not limited to the burning of wooden structures. Any injury or damage to the structure caused by exposure to heat or flame is sufficient.
of the dwelling - dwelling means a place of residence. 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." At common law a structure did not become a residence until the first occupants had moved in and ceased to be a dwelling if the occupants abandoned the premises with no intention of resuming their residency.[9] Dwelling includes structures and outbuildings within the curtilage.[10] Dwellings were not limited to houses. A barn could be the subject of arson if it was occupied as a dwelling.
of another - burning one's own dwelling does not constitute common law arson. However, for purposes of common law arson possession or occupancy rather than title determines whose dwelling the structure is.[10] Thus a tenant who sets fire to his rented house would not be guilty of common law arson,[10] while the landlord who set fire to a rented dwelling house would be guilty.

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."[11]

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.[12] Arson is prosecuted with attention to degree of severity[13] in the alleged offense. First degree arson[14] 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.[15] While usually a felony, arson may also be prosecuted as a misdemeanor,[16] "criminal mischief", or "destruction of property."[17] Burglary also occurs, if the arson involved a "breaking and entering".[18] A person may be sentenced to death 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.

Some states, such as California, prosecute the lesser offense of "reckless burning" when the fire is set recklessly as opposed to willfully and maliciously.[19] The study of the causes is the subject of fire investigation.

England and Wales

In English law, arson was a common law offence[20] which was recently defined again and codified by the Criminal Damage Act 1971.[21]

See also: Criminal damage in English law § Arson

Scotland

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

See also

References

  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 (350). Lynnwood: Australian Institute of Criminology. ISBN 978-1-921185-71-7. ISSN 0817-8542. Archived from the original on 2008-07-22. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  3. ^ "Cops race to stop Hollywood-area arson car fires". CBS News. December 31, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2012. Several more cars burned in suspected arson attacks [...]
  4. ^ "Kintbury car fire was arson". Newbury Weekly News. January 19, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012. A car fire [...] is being treated as arson.
  5. ^ arson. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Accessed: January 27, 2008)
  6. ^ "Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland 2005/2006". Retrieved 2008-10-06.
  7. ^ 4 Blackstone, Commentaries (21st ed.) p. 220
  8. ^ a b http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charring
  9. ^ Boyce & Perkins, Criminal Law, 3rd ed. (1992) at 280&81.
  10. ^ a b c Boyce & Perkins, Criminal Law, 3rd ed. (1992) at 281.
  11. ^ "Arson: Legal Aspects - Common Law Arson". Law Library - American Law and Legal Information. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
  12. ^ 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).
  13. ^ "Campus Crime: Crime Codes and Degree of Severity". California State University, Monterey Bay. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
  14. ^ See U.S. v. Miller, 246 Fed.Appx. 369 (C.A.6 (Tenn.) 2007)
  15. ^ Garofoli, Joe (September 1, 2007). "Suspect in Burning Man arson decries event's loss of spontaneity". San Francisco Chronicle. p. A8. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  16. ^ "Reason for Referral". Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  17. ^ "Man accused of arson pleads to misdemeanor charges". The Salina Journal. January 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  18. ^ 3 Charles E. Torcia, Wharton's Criminal Law § 326 (14th ed. 1980)
  19. ^ California arson and reckless burning laws under Penal Code 451 and 452
  20. ^ William Blackstone (1765–1769). "Of Offenses against the Habitations of Individuals [Book the Fourth, Chapter the Sixteenth]". [[Commentaries on the Laws of England]]. Oxford: Clarendon Press (reproduced on The Avalon Project at Yale Law School). Retrieved 2008-06-01. {{cite book}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help).
  21. ^ "Criminal Damage Act 1971". www.opsi.gov.uk. Retrieved 2010-03-24.

Further reading

Look up arson in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Media related to Arsons at Wikimedia Commons

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