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Biography
Redirect|Arsonists|the hip hop band|Arsonists (rap group)redirect|Torched|the Michael Hedges album|Torched (album)about||the 1949 film|Arson, Inc.|other uses|Special:Search/intitle:arson|and|Firestarter (disambiguation)!FirestarterCriminal lawGlobalize|date=May 2011 Arson 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 bćrnet, 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) is the crime of intentionally or maliciously lighting structures, wildland areas, 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 |archivedate = 2008-07-22 carscite 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 ...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. 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. 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)
Legal definitions
Common law
Arson 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. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charring Damage to surface coverings such as carpets and wallpaper is insufficient. 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, "since 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.Boyce & Perkins, Criminal Law, 3rd ed. (1992) at 280& 81. Dwelling includes structures and outbuildings within the curtilage.Boyce & Perkins, Criminal Law, 3rd ed. (1992) at 281. 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. Thus a tenant who sets fire to his rented house would not be guilty of common law arson, while the landlord who set fire to a rented dwelling house would be guilty.
Furthermore, "the 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."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
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.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). Arson is prosecuted with attention to degree of severitycite 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
in the alleged offense. First degree arsonSee U.S. v. Miller, 246 Fed.Appx. 369 (C.A.6 (Tenn.) 2007) 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.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
While usually a felony , arson may also be prosecuted as a misdemeanor ,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 " mischief|criminal mischief ", or " Property damage|destruction of property ."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
Burglary also occurs, if the arson involved a "breaking and entering".3 Charles E. Torcia, Wharton's Criminal Law § 326 (14th ed. 1980) 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. http://www.shouselaw.com/arson.html California arson and reckless burning laws under Penal Code 451 and 452 The study of the causes is the subject of fire investigation .
England and Wales
In English law , arson was a common law offenceCite 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=. dealing with the criminal destruction of buildings by fire. The offence was abolished by the S.11(1) Criminal Damage Act 1971 .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 . The 1971 Act makes no general distinction as to the mode of destruction except that s.1(3) requires that if the destruction is by fire then the offence will be charged as arson; s.4 of the Act provides a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for conviction under s.1 whether or not the offence is charged as arson. See also|Criminal damage in English law#Arson
Scotland
main|Wilful fire raisingScotland has no offence known as arson. Events constituting arson in English Law might be dealt with as one or more of a variety of offences such as Wilful Fire-Raising , Culpable and Reckless Conduct , Vandalism or other offences depending on the circumstances of the event. The more serious offences (in particular Wilful Fire-raising and Culpable and Reckless Conduct) can incur a sentence of life imprisonment .
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|arsonCommons category-inline|Arsons
http://www.firesafe.org.uk/how-to-combat-arson/ How to combat arson
