Hill R W, Langevin R, Paitich D, Handy L, Russon A, Wilkinson L
Can J Psychiatry. 1982 Dec;27(8):648-54. doi: 10.1177/070674378202700809.
Arsonists seen for psychiatric assessment were compared to property offenders and to violent offenders on a number of clinical measures. It was found that arsonists were a mixture of the two groups but the majority aligned with property offenders in personality, diagnosis, criminal and violence history, family background, alcohol and drug use as well as in sexual behaviour. Significantly 18% of arsonists were mentally retarded. The act of arson was examined in detail using reliable ratings. While there was no obvious motive in two-fifths of the cases, revenge with underlying anger was most frequently a recognized motive for arson. The provocateur for the act of arson was not always readily identifiable and in over half the cases more than one person or an institution was the stimulus for the fire. Directions for future study were discussed.
对接受精神科评估的纵火犯在多项临床指标上与财产犯罪者和暴力犯罪者进行了比较。结果发现，纵火犯是这两组人的混合体，但大多数在性格、诊断、犯罪和暴力史、家庭背景、酒精和药物使用以及性行为方面与财产犯罪者一致。值得注意的是，18%的纵火犯有智力缺陷。使用可靠的评分方法对纵火行为进行了详细研究。虽然五分之二的案件没有明显动机，但潜在愤怒引发的报复是纵火最常见的公认动机。纵火行为的煽动者并不总是很容易识别，超过半数的案件中，不止一人或一个机构是火灾的刺激因素。文中还讨论了未来研究的方向。
