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Full-Text Articles in Criminology
Copycat Firesetting: Bridging Two Research Areas, Rebekah Doley, Claire Ferguson, Ray Surette
Copycat Firesetting: Bridging Two Research Areas, Rebekah Doley, Claire Ferguson, Ray Surette
Rebekah Doley
Deliberate firesetting costs our community in destruction to property and lives. Public concern heightens when similar fires occur in a series, raising the specter of copycat firesetting. Difficulties associated with researching copycat crimes in general mean that not a lot is known about copycat firesetting. As an initial step toward filling this research gap, we explore connections between research on copycat crime and research into deliberate firesetting. The intention is to extract salient features from what is known about the phenomena of deliberate firesetting and copycat crime, map them together, and point out shared and unique characteristics. It is argued …
A Snapshot Of Serial Arson In Australia, Rebekah Doley
A Snapshot Of Serial Arson In Australia, Rebekah Doley
Rebekah Doley
Studies into arson commonly have two underlying assumptions: 1) that arsonists are in some way different from non-arsonists; and, 2) that repeat arson offenders are quantifiably different from one- time arson offenders. In general these suppositions have remained implicit in the research, with few empirical investigations examining their veracity or otherwise against a sound theoretical model. The current project sought to establish how applicable these assumptions are in the Australian context. In the process a profile of Australian arsonists has been clarified and the concept that arsonists can be differentiated from each other and from other types of offender on …