Arson: A Twenty-Year Cohort Study

Abstract

All those charged with arson and appearing in the higher courts of England and Wales as shown in the Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1951 (1951) for that year were followed-up in terms of reconviction for a twenty-year period up to the end of 1971. Of the 8 men acquitted of arson in 1951, I had a previous conviction for arson but he did not appear in court again; there is evidence that another of this group became an arson recidivist after his 1951 acquittal. Of the 67 people convicted of arson in 1951 on whom there is complete information, only I had a previous conviction for arson prior to 1951, but he was not reconvicted subsequently for any type of offence. There were, however, 3 men who became arson recidivists during the next 20 years. The importance of a long-term follow-up is stressed, for although I was reconvicted for arson by the end of 1951 the 2 others were reconvicted for the specific offence of arson 13 and 15 years later, in 1964 and 1966 respectively.