Arson

In 1979, the U.S. Congress made the crime of arson one of the eight major Part I Offenses (index crimes) compiled and reported through the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). The elevation of arson to Part I status was due in part to the then-increasing number of insurance claims and the resultant economic losses. The UCR provides an annual, nationwide view of crime based on statistics submitted by over 17,000 city, county, and state law enforcement agencies. Its primary objective is to generate a reliable set of crime statistics for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management. As such, its data have become one of the country's leading social indicators by focusing on the most serious crimes, the frequency of their occurrence, their geographic pervasiveness, and the likelihood of their being reported to law enforcement.

The UCR defines arson as “any willful or malicious burning or attempt to burn, with or without intent to defraud, a dwelling house, public building, motor vehicle or aircraft, or personal property of another” (Federal Bureau of Investigation 2000: 54). The FBI clearly states that only fires determined through investigation to be willfully or maliciously set are classified as arson. Fires of suspicious or unknown origin are not considered crimes and are excluded from UCR statistics.

A total of 76,045 arson offenses were reported in 1999, a 4 percent decline from the previous year. Structures were the target in 45 percent of reported arson offenses; of these, 61 percent were residential properties, and 43 percent single-family dwellings. Property damaged due to arson was valued at an average of $10,882 per offense.

Persons under the age of eighteen were involved in 48 percent of arson incidents cleared in 1999. Of the eight Part I Offenses, arson had the highest percentage of juvenile involvement.