Essay --

Arsons Through Vandalism Arson is the malicious and intentional setting of fire to a building, house, business, forest, vehicles, and other properties. This type of arson motivated by vandalism is common to many juvenile offenders between 10-14 years of age (Radell Smith, Jan 26, 2010, Yahoo Voices), usually as a result of peer pressure or some type of gang initiation. Most type of arsonists don't typically live very far from where they commit their crimes. Commonly, they know the area really well where arson has been committed. It was said that 30 percent of arsonist can be found living half a mile to a mile from the crime scene of arson, 21 percent live within a five-block radius, and the rest of majority of arson fires are committed by someone living within a two-mile radius of the fire (Smith, 2010). Most of these offenders would flee the scene immediately after setting the target on fire, some would return to the scene of crime but safely keeping their distance to avoid recognition. (Welkman, n.d.) Arson has one of the highest rates of juvenile involvement and is a serious public safety problem, therefore juvenile fire setter became as a major problem in the field of arson because of peer pressures or as a part of initiating a member to the gang (Robertson, 2010). According to Peggy Little (n.d.), there are more arsons in the United States than any other country in the world, and the 1995 Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics showed that juveniles are accounted for 52 percent of the arson arrests. Most common juvenile arsonists comes from a severely disturbed home environment with one or no biological parents, with poor school work performance, has poor relationships with peers and the inabili... ...government agencies. Neighborhoods can reduce the likelihood of arson through awareness. Neighbors must always be on a lookout for anything that is suspicious in their neighborhood, and make reports to proper authorities of detailed physical descriptions of any suspicious people in or around their facility. Neighbors must know each other and be willing to look out for each other. Put the neighbor back into neighborhood by creating a sense of cooperation. Neighborhood Watch can play an important role in deterring future crimes such as arson or burglary. Building a strong and good relationship among government agencies like local fire department, emergency personnel, and law enforcement could be beneficial for the community in reducing arson. By making building safe and secure through these principles, society can help deter vandalism and arson.