Arson.

Definition

The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program 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, personal property of another, etc.

Offense Methodology

According to the UCR Program's data collection guidelines, only fires determined through investigation to have been willfully or maliciously set are classified as arsons. Fires of suspicious or unknown origins are excluded from this classification.

Due to the limited reporting of arson offenses by law enforcement, certain UCR data presentations are not possible. Because the UCR Program does not estimate for arson offenses, it does not include them in Tables 1-7, which all contain offense estimations. The UCR Program does, however, present the total number of arsons reported by individual law enforcement agencies in Tables 8-11 in this report. Though arson is not included in national rate calculations, the UCR Program computes arson rates separately (based on the data of those agencies for which 12 months of complete data were submitted) and publishes them in Table 2.30. Tables 12-15 in this report provide 2-year arson trend data. Clearance data for arson are published in Table 2.31 and Tables 25-28. Additional information regarding the specific composition of each table is provided in the Table Methodology section of Appendix I.

National Coverage

In 2003, 12,776 law enforcement agencies provided to the UCR Program 1 to 12 months of arson data, which included 71,319 offenses. Of the 12,776 agencies, 12,738 submitted additional information (such as the structure type and the estimated value of property damage) for 64,043 arsons. (See Table 2.31.) Of those agencies submitting supplemental information, 9,790 agencies covering 72.0 percent of the population provided 12 months of complete data. (See Table 2.30.)

Population Groups: Trends and Rates

Trends

The UCR Program aggregates data by various population groups, which include cities, metropolitan counties, and nonmetropolitan counties. (See Appendix III.) A comparison of 2003 data to those from 2002 showed that the number of arson offenses was down 6.3 percent nationwide. The 2-year trend also showed that cities, collectively, experienced a 6.8-percent decline in the number of arsons within their boundaries. Among the population groups labeled city, the Nation's smallest cities, those with 10,000 or fewer inhabitants, had the most significant decrease, 11.8 percent, in their arson offenses. The largest cities, those with 250,000 or more inhabitants, had a 9.1-percent decline in their arson offenses from 2002 to 2003. Law enforcement agencies in metropolitan counties recorded a 6.1-percent decline in the number of arsons from the 2002 level, and nonmetropolitan county law enforcement agencies recorded a 0.6-percent decrease in their number of reported arsons. (See Table 12.)

Rates

Based on 12 months of complete data, 9,790 law enforcement agencies in the Nation measured arson at a rate of 30.4 offenses per 100,000 in population in 2003. Collectively, cities had a rate of 33.6 arsons per 100,000 inhabitants. Among city population groupings, the country's largest cities, those with populations of 250,000 and over, experienced the greatest frequency in reported arson offenses at 52.8 offenses per 100,000 persons. Arson offenses occurred in metropolitan counties at a rate of 25.8 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants, and they happened in nonmetropolitan counties at a rate of 17.7 arsons per 100,000 in population. (See Table 2.30.)

Offense Analysis

Supplemental arson data submitted by law enforcement agencies throughout the country revealed the following information about the types of fires reported and the resulting monetary losses.

Type

The UCR Program collects arson data according to the type of property burned: structure (residential, commercial, industrial, etc.), mobile (motor vehicles, trailers, etc.), and other (crops, timber, etc.). (See Table 2.31.)

In 2003, structural arson accounted for 42.1 percent of reported arson. Among these types of fires, residential properties were the target in 61.0 percent of the offenses. Of residential property targets, 73.3 percent were single-occupancy dwellings. Nearly 19 percent (18.5) of all structure arsons were abandoned or unused properties at the time of the .re. Mobile property arson made up 33.3 percent of the total arson reported in 2003. The majority of mobile property arson, 95.2 percent, was of motor vehicles. Other types of property comprised the remaining 24.6 percent of properties targeted by arsonists. (See Table 2.31.)

A comparison of arson property data for 2002 and 2003 showed that the number of structural arsons declined 3.9 percent, and arson incidents involving mobile property decreased 6.8 percent. Arsons of other types of property in 2003 also decreased, down 7.3 percent from the 2002 number. (See Table 15.)

Dollar Loss

The average dollar loss for property damaged or destroyed by arson in 2003 was $11,942 per offense. Overall, structural losses averaged $21,276. Arsons of industrial and manufacturing structures resulted in the highest average dollar loss during 2003, $136,644 per offense. Residential structure losses averaged $19,062 for single-occupancy dwellings, and losses in other residential-type dwellings averaged $23,977 per offense. Mobile property losses averaged $6,381 per arson offense, and other property types, averaged losses of $3,467. (See Table 2.31.)

Clearances

In the UCR Program, law enforcement clears offenses when an officer arrests an offender or when elements beyond the control of law enforcement prevent the placing of formal charges against the offender, i.e., exceptional means. (Section III provides more information regarding clearances.)

In 2003, law enforcement cleared 16.7 percent of the arson offenses reported in the United States. With the highest clearance percentage among the Nation's regions, law enforcement in the Northeast cleared 20.7 percent of reported arson. Law enforcement agencies in the Midwest cleared 16.1 percent, and those in the South cleared 18.9 percent. The percentage of arson offenses cleared in the West was 13.5 percent. (See Table 26.)

Data aggregations by population group showed that law enforcement agencies in cities, collectively, cleared 16.5 percent of arson offenses reported within their jurisdictions. Among city population groupings, agencies in the Nation's smallest cities, those with populations of 10,000 and under, cleared 27.6 percent of their reported arson offenses; this was the highest percentage of clearances for arson among cities, as well as for all population groups. Law enforcement agencies serving the Nation's largest cities, those with populations of 250,000 and over, cleared 10.9 percent of reported arson, the lowest clearance percentage among city population groups. Law enforcement in metropolitan counties throughout the Nation cleared 16.0 percent of reported arson offenses, and nonmetropolitan county law enforcement cleared 23.5 percent of the reported arson during 2003. (See Table 25.)

Based on supplemental arson data for 2003 (from 12,738 agencies regarding structural property and mobile property arson), law enforcement cleared 22.0 percent of structural property arson nationwide. Additionally, agencies cleared 6.9 percent of mobile property arson. (See Table 2.31.)

An analysis of clearances by population group further revealed that law enforcement agencies in cities with populations under 10,000 cleared the highest percentages of reported structural and mobile property arson offenses during 2003. These agencies cleared 31.6 percent of structural property arson and 17.8 percent of mobile property arson. Cities with populations of 10,000 to 24,999 cleared the greatest proportion of arson offenses for other property types of arson, 28.4 percent. (See Table 27.)

Clearances and Juveniles

The UCR Program lists any clearance involving both adults (those aged 18 and over) and juveniles (persons under age 18) as an adult clearance. In addition, if an offender under the age of 18 is cited to appear before juvenile authorities, the UCR Program considers that incident as cleared by arrest even though a physical arrest may not have occurred.

Clearances involving only juveniles comprised 41.3 percent of total arsons cleared nationwide during 2003. Of all offenses collected by the UCR Program, arson was the offense with the greatest degree of juvenile involvement. Clearances involving only juvenile offenders accounted for 44.2 percent of all arsons clearances in cities collectively. In the Nation's largest cities, those with populations of 250,000 and greater, clearances involving juveniles only comprised 38.7 percent of all arson clearances. Clearances of offenders under the age of 18 accounted for approximately 48.0 percent of the arson clearances in cities with populations of 24,999 inhabitants or less. In the country's metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties, clearances involving juveniles only comprised 37.1 percent and 24.6 percent, respectively, of the total number of arsons cleared. (See Table 28.)

An examination of clearance data for the different types of arson showed that clearances involving juveniles only accounted for 40.2 percent of the clearances that involved structure arson. Of these, 73.4 percent of the clearances for community/public structure arson involved juveniles only. Clearances involving mobile property arsons had the least juvenile-only involvement, 21.2 percent. (See Table 2.31.)

Arrests

Total Arrests and Rates

In 2003 law enforcement personnel arrested an estimated 16,163 people for committing arson offenses. (See Table 29.) Based on the 9,790 agencies that submitted 12 months of complete arrest data for arson, the national arrest rate for the offense was 5.6 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants. Among the Nation's geographic regions, the West had the highest arson arrest rate, 5.8 arrests per 100,000 persons. Law enforcement agencies in the South made 5.6 arson arrests per 100,000 persons, and the Midwest and the Northeast arrested 5.5 and 5.1 persons per 100,000, respectively. (See Table 30.)

By population group, law enforcement in the Nation's cities made 5.8 arson arrests for every 100,000 inhabitants. Within city population groupings, those with 10,000 or fewer inhabitants had the highest arson arrest rate, 7.0. Law enforcement agencies in metropolitan counties arrested 5.4 persons for arson per 100,000 population, and those in nonmetropolitan counties arrested 4.6 arson suspects per every 100,000 in population. (See Table 31.)

Arrest Trends

Nationwide, the number of arrests for arson in 2003 declined 5.8 percent from the number of arrests recorded for 2002. Arrests of adults for arson decreased 8.3 percent, and arrests of juveniles declined 3.5 percent from the previous year's number. (See Table 36.) By gender, the number of males arrested for arson was down 6.1 percent from the 2002 figure, and the number of females arrested for arson decreased 4.1 percent. (See Table 37.)

Five-year arrest trends for the Nation showed that the number of arson arrests for 2003 declined 7.9 percent when compared to 1999 arrest data. Law enforcement agencies reported a 3.6-percent decrease in the number of adults arrested for arson and an 11.6-percent drop in the number of juveniles arrested for arson for the period. (See Table 34.) Overall, the number of males and the number of females arrested for arson declined 8.6 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively. (See Table 35.)

A 10-year comparison of arson arrest data indicated that there were 28.5 percent fewer arson arrests in 2003 than in 1994. According to trend data for those years, the number of adults arrested for arson was down 17.7 percent, and the number of juveniles arrested for the offense decreased 36.2 percent. (See Table 32.) By sex, there were 29.3 percent fewer arrests of males for arson in 2003 than in 1994. Arrests of females for the offense also declined by 23.7 percent for the same years. (See Table 33.)

Distribution by Age, Sex, and Race

Data regarding the age, sex, and race of persons arrested for arson in 2003 indicated that juveniles accounted for 50.8 percent of all arrestees for arson; 31.2 percent of all arson arrestees were of juveniles under the age of 15. (See Table 41.) Males comprised 84.4 percent of the total of arson arrestees. (See Table 42.) By race, 77.5 percent of all individuals arrested for arson were reported as being white, 20.9 percent of arson arrestees were black, and 1.6 percent were persons of other races. (See Table 43.)

Table 2.30
Arson Rate

by Population Group, 2003

[9,790 agencies; 2003 estimated population
209,483,192; rate per 100,000 inhabitants]

Population group                       Rate

Total                                  30.4
Total cities                           33.6
Group I (cities 250,000 and over)      52.8
  (cities 1,000,000 and over)          48.8
  (cities 500,000 to 999,999)          52.7
  (cities 250,000 to 499,999)          58.1
Group II (cities 100,000 to 249,999)   34.5
Group III (cities 50,000 to 99,999)    28.0
Group IV (cities 25,000 to 49,999)     23.4
Group V (cities 10,000 to 24,999)      20.4
Group VI (cities under 10,000)         22.3
Metropolitan counties                  25.8
Nonmetropolitan counties               17.7
Suburban area (1)                      23.4

(1) Suburban area includes law enforcement agencies in cities with
less than 50,000 inhabitants and county law enforcement agencies
that are within a Metropolitan Statistical Area (see Appendix 111).
Suburban area excludes all metropolitan agencies associated with
a principal city. The agencies associated with suburban areas also
appear in other groups within this table.

Table 2.31
Arson

by Type of Property, 2003

[12,738 agencies; 2003 estimated population 226,463,194]

                                                Percent     Percent
                                 Number of   distribution   not in
Property classification           offenses        (1)         use

Total                              64,043        100.0
Total structure:                   26,994         42.1        18.5
  Single occupancy residential     12,071         18.8        20.7
  Other residential                 4,399          6.9        13.1
  Storage                           1,865          2.9        19.9
  Industrial/manufacturing            287          0.4        20.9
  Other commercial                  2,760          4.3        14.3
  Community/public                  3,073          4.8        14.1
  Other structure                   2,539          4.0        26.0
Total mobile:                      21,310         33.3
  Motor vehicles                   20,292         31.7
  Other mobile                      1,018          1.6
Other                              15,739         24.6

                                 Average     Total
Property classification          damage    clearances

Total                            $11,942      10,683
Total structure:                  21,276       5,929
  Single occupancy residential    19,062       2,645
  Other residential               23,977         940
  Storage                         16,794         309
  Industrial/manufacturing       136,644          69
  Other commercial                33,557         450
  Community/public                11,061       1,014
  Other structure                 16,366         502
Total mobile:                      6,381       1,475
  Motor vehicles                   6,234       1,318
  Other mobile                     9,292         157
Other                              3,467       3,279

                                 Percent of    Percent of
                                  offenses     clearances
Property classification          cleared (2)    under 18

Total                                16.7         40.9
Total structure:                     22.0         40.2
  Single occupancy residential       21.9         30.3
  Other residential                  21.4         31.5
  Storage                            16.6         49.2
  Industrial/manufacturing           24.0         34.8
  Other commercial                   16.3         26.4
  Community/public                   33.0         73.4
  Other structure                    19.8         49.0
Total mobile:                         6.9         21.2
  Motor vehicles                      6.5         20.6
  Other mobile                       15.4         26.1
Other                                20.8         51.2

(1) Because of rounding, the percentages may not add to 100.0.

(2) Includes offenses cleared by arrest or exceptional means.