A portrait of the juvenile arsonist.
In this study we evaluated if juvenile arsonists (n = 34) differ from juvenile criminals of violence (n = 33) in regard to suicide and mental problems in forensic psychiatric examination. Both arsonists and violent offenders were mostly male, poorly educated, unskilled and unemployed at the times of committing their crimes; and 79% of the arsonists and 58% of the control group had used public health services for treatment of their mental symptoms before the crime. This difference was significant (p = 0.05). Suicide was more common among the arsonists than the control subjects (p = 0.02); 74% of the arsonists had suicidal thoughts and 44% had tried to commit suicide before setting a fire. In the forensic psychiatric examination the arsonists were more often relieved from responsibility than the comparison group (p = 0.02).
Räsänen
P
P
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Oulu, Finland.
Hirvenoja
R
R
Hakko
H
H
Väisänen
E
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003415:Crime; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005391:Firesetting Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency; D008297:Male; D014754:Violence