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Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling

J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)


Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/jip.57

Offender and Crime Characteristics of Female Serial


Arsonists in Japan

TAEKO WACHI*, KAZUMI WATANABE, KAEKO YOKOTA,


MAMORU SUZUKI, MAKI HOSHINO, ATSUSHI SATO and GORO FUJITA
National Research Institute of Police Science, Chiba, Japan

Abstract
This study of Japanese female serial arsonists examined their crimes and background
characteristics. The data were a sample from the national police register containing arson
cases resulting in charges in Japan between 1982 and 2005. Serial arsonists were 6% of
the arson offenders and 12% of these were female, resulting in 83 female serial arsonist
data sets. The mean age was 37.6 years and 43% were unemployed. Nearly half were
married. Only 28% had a documented history of mental problems and 22% had a prior
arrest, usually for theft (19%). Female serial arsonists are characterised by going to a
place near their home with a lighter and setting fire directly to combustible materials.
Non-metric multidimensional scaling was used to analyse 33 variables related to the
offences. The arsons could be differentiated in terms of either expressive or instrumental
sources of action. Expressive arsons were opportunistic and impulsive acts, motivated by
emotional distress. The fires were mostly set close to home. Expressive arsons were char-
acteristic of 66% of the females. Instrumental arsons were often motivated by revenge and
involved planned and goal-directed behaviours. They were committed by 13% of the
females. Instrumental arsonists tended to travel further from home. Copyright © 2007
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Key words: female; serial arsonists; expressive; instrumental

INTRODUCTION

Arson incidents have been increasing in Japan. According to the National Police Agency,
there were 1846 arson cases in 1996 and 2174 arson cases in 2004, an 18% increase. The
clearance rate for arson cases decreased from 95 to 70% in that same period. Researchers
have noticed changes in the offence styles of arson. Previously, there were more arson

*Correspondence to: Taeko Wachi, Investigation Support Section,


Department of Criminology and Behavioral Sciences,
National Research Institute of Police Science, 6-3-1, Kashiwanoha,
Kashiwa, Chiba 277-0882, Japan.
E-mail: wachi@nrisp.go.jp

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


30 Taeko Wachi et al.

incidents in the countryside, caused by troubles amongst people. Recently, more arson
incidents have been committed in cities, motivated by resentment associated with daily
activities (Ueno, 2000). This change in the offence style makes arson incidents more
anonymous and increases the difficulties in arresting arsonists when only traditional police
investigation methods are used. Recently, Japanese police forces have recognised the
efficacy of offender profiling for some types of crimes including serial arson.
Psychiatrists have done most of the scientific research on arsonists since the 19th century
(Molnar, Keitner, & Harwood, 1984). Traditionally, arson was believed to be committed
by persons with mental illness or serious personality disorders. In addition to psychiatric
studies examining the mental status and/or aetiology of arsonists, majority of the current
research on arson is criminological, mainly developing a motive-based classification or
anecdotal case studies (Kocsis & Cooksey, 2002).
Research on the psychological profiling of arsonists for criminal investigations was
undertaken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US (Icove & Estepp, 1987; Rider,
1980a, 1980b, 1980c). This research proposed an arson typology based on the offenders’
motivation, some of which could be inferred from the crime scene, which was described
in the Crime Classification Manual (Douglas, Burgess, Burgess, & Ressler, 1992). This
typology classified arson and arsonists according to the following motivations: vandalism,
excitement, revenge, crime concealment, profit, and extremist-motivated. Sapp, Huff,
Gary, and Icove (1994) applied these classifications to serial arson and reported that all
the types except the extremist were present in their sample. The validity of research on
the classification system has been criticised for being too heavily based on individual
investigative experiences (e.g. Canter & Alison, 1999).
Recent large-scale empirical studies of arson have emphasised crime scene behaviours
and analysed their co-occurrences using multidimensional scaling (Almond, Duggan,
Shine, & Canter, 2005; Canter & Fritzon, 1998; Fritzon, Canter, & Wilton, 2001;
Hakkanen, Puolakka, & Santtila, 2004; Kocsis & Cooksey, 2002; Santtila, Hakkanen,
Alison, & Whyte, 2003). Canter and Fritzon, (1998) profiled British cases utilising the
approach previously stated. They identified four themes of ‘Despair, Display, Damage and
Destroy’, which consistently differentiated the motivation underlying the action (expres-
sive or instrumental) and the target of the attack (person or object). The ‘Display’ (expres-
sive object) theme indicated that the arson was a means of expressing the offender’s
feelings and obtaining emotional relief. Arsonists showing this type of behaviour are likely
to target public and anonymous buildings. In the ‘Despair’ (expressive person) theme,
strong emotional reactions were also important elements: Arsonists seek to get attention
from family or authority figures by setting fire to themselves or their own home, which
distinguishes them from the other type of expressive arsonists. In contrast, an arson man-
ifesting the ‘Damage’ (instrumental object) theme was directed at objects and could be
seen as a means of achieving criminal goals, such as hiding evidence at a crime scene.
Finally, the ‘Destroy’ (instrumental person) theme related to personal relationships, which
indicated that arsonists were motivated by specific purposes such as revenge. Other
researchers have replicated their findings for various populations, for example, juvenile
firesetters (Santtila et al., 2003), incarcerated arsonists (Almond et al., 2005), and solved
arson cases in the Finnish police registration (Hakkanen, Puolakka, & Santtila, 2004). In
the studies by Fritzon and her colleagues, serial arson mainly expressed the ‘Display’
(expressive object) theme, involving motivational components that were expressive.
Female arsonists demonstrated more expressive types of offence behaviours than instru-
mental types (Fritzon, 1998).

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
Characteristics of female serial arsonists in Japan 31

Fritzon and her colleagues (Canter & Fritzon, 1998; Fritzon, Canter, & Wilton, 2001)
classified offender characteristics into four types: Young Offender, Repeat Arsonist,
Psychiatric History, and Failed Relationship. Each type of offender characteristics was
significantly correlated with a different theme of offence style. ‘Young Offenders’ were
defined as those who were living with their parents and were school age; their arson
offences expressed the ‘Damage’ (instrumental object) theme. ‘Repeat Arsonists’ included
those who were previously convicted for arson and setting off fire alarms. This type of
arsonists showed the ‘Display’ (expressive object) theme of offence behaviour. Those with
‘Psychiatric History’ variables, such as a diagnosis of depression or psychosis, admission
to a psychiatric institution, or a history of suicide attempts, showed the ‘Despair’ (expres-
sive person) theme of action at the crime scene. Finally, the ‘Failed Relationship’ classi-
fication was composed of those cohabiting, married or separated, and indicating difficulties
involved in personal relationships; these offenders tended to show the ‘Destroy’ (instru-
mental person) theme of arson.
With regards to where the arson was committed, several studies showed that the spatial
pattern depended on the different characteristics or types of arsonist (Fritzon, 2001; Sapp
et al., 1994; Suzuki, 2006). For serial arsonists, the distances travelled differed according
to the arsonists’ age and sex (Suzuki, 2006). Male serial arsonists in their 30s travelled
furthest from their home; 27% travelled more than 5 km on average. The distances that
female arsonists travelled were relatively shorter; on average, about half of the females
travelled less than 500 m, whereas half of the male arsonists travelled more than 1 km
(Suzuki, 2006).
The study of Sapp et al. (1994) examined serial arsonists’ spatial patterns related to
the motive-based typology proposed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Vandalism-
motivated arsonists were likely to set a fire within 0.5 to 1 mile (approximately 0.8 to 1.6
km) from their home or workplace, whereas revenge-motivated arsonists, excitement-
motivated arsonists, and crime-concealment arsonists tended to set fires within 1 to 2 miles
(approximately 1.6 to 3.2 km) of their home or workplace. Profit-motivated arsonists
selected their target beforehand; therefore, no distinct spatial patterns were evident.
An examination of the arsonists’ spatial behaviour utilising the model proposed by
Fritzon and her colleagues (Fritzon, 2001) revealed that arsonists who were motivated by
instrumental benefits travelled greater distances than arsonists whose offences involved a
strong emotional component. In the case of the ‘Display’ (expressive object) theme, which
was closely related to serial arson, the offenders showed very limited patterns of travel-
ling; none of the arsonists travelled more than 2 km to set a fire.
Most of the data on arsonists have focused on males because they commit the majority
of criminal acts of arson (Davis & Lauber, 1999). As Carlen (2002) mentioned, offender
research has a general tendency to study male offenders and then assume that the results
are applicable to female offenders. There are relatively few studies of female arsonists
(Bourget & Bradford, 1989; Noblett & Nelson, 2001; Stewart, 1993; Taylor, Roberson,
Thorne, Belshaw, & Watson, 2006). In addition, most of the studies, which specifically
looked at female arsonists, involved populations in secure hospitals or prisons in the field
of psychiatry. These studies mainly focused on the psychopathology and family charac-
teristics of female arsonists.
Demographically, female arsonists were likely to be single, unemployed, and have a
limited educational background (Harmon, Rosner, & Wiederlight, 1985; Stewart, 1993).
With regards to criminal histories, there is disagreement amongst the studies. Stewart,
(1993) reported that female arsonists were likely to have convictions for arson-related

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
32 Taeko Wachi et al.

offences. However, the subjects in Harmon, Rosner, and Wiederlight, (1985) had at least
one prior criminal offence, usually not for arson but for assault.
Female arsonists tended to have more early separations from their parents and higher
levels of disrupted families compared with other hospitalised or incarcerated female
offenders in the UK or the US (Stewart, 1993; Tennent, McQuaid, Loughnane, & Hands,
1971). They were also more likely to have problems related to sexual relationships, includ-
ing a history as a victim of sexual abuse (Noblett & Nelson, 2001; Stewart, 1993; Tennent
et al., 1971).
Female arsonists were likely to have a high prevalence of various behavioural distur-
bances. They tended to have a history of deliberate self-harm and suicidal ideation
(Bourget & Bradford, 1989; Noblett & Nelson, 2001). They often had a history of alcohol
or/and drug abuse, and diagnosis of mental disorder (Bourget & Bradford, 1989; Harmon
et al., 1985; Taylor et al., 2006). The studies by Bourget and Bradford (1989) and Harmon,
Rosner, and Wiederlight (1985) revealed a high prevalence of personality disorder in
female arsonists in forensic psychiatric clinics. Female arsonists showed high scores on
clinical scales such as somatic complaints, anxiety, depression, paranoia, schizophrenia,
borderline features, antisocial features (Noblett & Nelson, 2001), and low self-esteem
(Stewart, 1993).
Several studies examined the motives and arson objects of female arsonists. The most
frequent motive for setting a fire was revenge (Bourget & Bradford, 1989; Harmon,
Rosner, & Wiederlight, 1985; Stewart, 1993; Taylor et al., 2006). The majority of female
arsonists set fire to their living place, including their own home or room or a public space
in the building they lived in (Bourget & Bradford, 1989; Harmon, Rosner, & Wiederlight,
1985; Tennent et al., 1971).
There are only a few Japanese research studies on arson, mainly in the field of psychi-
atry (e.g. Akimoto, 2004; Kageyama, 2000; Nakata, 1977). The most significant empiri-
cal study on Japanese serial arson was conducted by Tamura and Suzuki (1997), using
solved arson cases from 1989 through 1995 in 5 of the 47 prefectures in Japan. In addi-
tion, Tamura, (1999) classified the motivation of these same serial arsonists based on the
Federal Bureau of Investigation typology and compared the results with the American
study conducted by Sapp et al. (1994). Japanese serial arsonists were primarily classified
as excitement-, revenge-, or profit-motivated. Although the frequencies of arsonists of each
type were different from the American results, this research nevertheless showed the
existence of the various types of serial arsonists in Japan.
Our present study focuses on arrested female serial arsonists in order to provide useful
information for police investigations. There are few studies of female serial arsonists and
those studies have mostly examined populations in psychiatric settings. Nakata (1977)
argued that the proportion of serial arsonists was higher amongst female arsonists
than males because of the simplicity and ease of setting fires as compared to other
serious crimes such as murder and burglary. Thus, it is important to investigate female
serial arsonists.
The present study analyses the offending behaviours (including spatial behaviours) of
female serial arsonists arrested in Japan within the last two decades in terms of the model
proposed by Fritzon and her colleagues (e.g. Canter & Fritzon, 1998; Fritzon, 1998). We
expect that female serial arsonists would mostly be classified into the ‘Display’ theme (i.e.
expressive object). However, considering the studies of Sapp et al. (1994) and Tamura
(1999), where the motivations for serial arson were found to vary, different patterns of
offending behaviour of female serial arsonists may also be revealed.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
Characteristics of female serial arsonists in Japan 33

The current study examines the following hypotheses about female serial arsonists.
(1) The offending behaviours at the crime scenes of female serial arsonists can be differ-
entiated in terms of the motivation underlying the action (expressive or instrumental).
(2) The spatial patterns of female serial arsonists will differ depending on their offending
styles. Female arsonists showing instrumental elements will travel further from their
home than those showing expressive elements.
(3) The offenders’ background characteristics are likely to be different depending on their
offending styles.

METHOD

Sample
The data were obtained from the Japanese national police register containing solved arson
cases. If the arsonist was arrested, the case was recognised as solved even if the offender
was not convicted by the courts. Under Japanese law, criminal firesettings are not assigned
to a single crime category, but instead are either arson (subdivided into arson of inhabited
buildings, arson of uninhabited buildings, and setting fires to objects other than structures)
or damage to property. This differentiation is based on whether the act may endanger the
public: only acts that are recognised as resulting in danger to the public are assigned to
arson. The present study only considers criminal firesettings assigned to arson because
detailed information of the cases assigned to damage to property was not available.
The original sample extracted from the national police register included a total of 11
652 arsonists drawn from the entire country of Japan from 1982 to 2005. For this study,
offenders who committed at least five incidents of arson prior to their arrest were defined
as serial arsonists. This resulted in 708 offenders, which indicate that about 6% of the
offenders were serial arsonists.1 The sample of female serial arsonists was extracted from
this population, resulting in 83 female serial arsonists.2 Thus, 12% of all serial arsonists
registered in the police records in Japan between 1982 and 2005 were female.
The data from the police registration were processed by offender so that each of the 83
offenders had one file, which summarised the information of the multiple offences. Each
record was redacted to contain the offender’s background characteristics, criminal behav-
iours across their series of offences, and address records of the offender’s home and each
offence. If background characteristics were missing, only the available information was
analysed. With regards to criminal behaviours, only the presence of the behaviours was
recorded in the data set. Some criminal behaviours may be absent because either the
offenders did not show these behaviours or these behaviours were not recorded, namely,
missing. Therefore, the present study only focuses on the presence of criminal behaviours.
In addition, the address records of arsonists’ homes and their offences were not complete
in all the cases. Therefore, only the cases with five or more complete address records were

1
Some offenders committed two series of offences and were arrested twice. In these cases, these series were
counted as two distinct series of arson committed by two different offenders. Twenty-four offenders who
committed two series of offences were included in this study.
2
Two offenders had two records each in this sample because these offenders committed two series of offences
before, as well as after their arrest.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
34 Taeko Wachi et al.

examined. When the offences were conducted in intervals of less than 12 hours, the loca-
tion of the first offence was analysed because the locations of the consecutive offences
might have been influenced by that of the previous one. Furthermore, data from two
offenders were excluded as outliers from the spatial analysis because their maximum dis-
tances were more than 100 km, which was uncharacteristic of the distances travelled by
the remaining arsonists. This final selection resulted in 48 female arsonists whose
distances travelled were analysed.

Statistical analysis of variables


For the analysis of the offending behaviours, 33 variables3 were created based on the
previous studies and the available information from the case files (see Appendix). These
variables were recorded on a presence/absence basis.
To examine the underlying structure of the criminal actions, non-metric multidimen-
sional scaling analysis (MDS, using the PROXSCAL module from SPSS for Windows,
version 14.0.J) was undertaken. This is a method of analysis that ultimately yields a geo-
metric representation of results in which the relationship of each variable is shown in rela-
tion to every other variable. Any variables that frequently occur together will be plotted
geometrically close in the space. A Jaccard’s coefficient of association, which only analy-
ses the positive co-occurrence, was used as the similarity measure. This is appropriate for
the present study because absent information may not indicate the absence of the behav-
iours but only the failure to record that information.
For further analysis of the offenders’ spatial behaviours, the location of each offence
and the offender’s home base were marked on a single map, creating a map for each of
the 48 series of arsons. The straight-line distances between the offences and the home base
of the offender were measured for each series of offences. As the distances used in the
present study were not normally distributed, the median was calculated as the central
tendency.
Regarding the offenders’ background characteristics, the variables of age, occupation,
highest level of education, marital status, living condition, mental problems,4 and a history
of serious crimes (murder, robbery, arson, abduction, blackmail, theft, fraud, and sexual
crime) were analysed. Chi-square analyses were used to examine whether the offender
characteristics were associated with the behavioural themes revealed in the crime scenes.
For analysis of age differences, an independent Mann–Whitney test was used because the
ages of the arsonists were not normally distributed.

3
There are three variables representing the motivation of arsonists, namely, revenge, emotional, and excitement.
These were the most common motivations based on police statements. These motivations were not mutually
exclusive; if an individual showed emotional relief and excitement by setting fire, two variables were coded.
4
Mental problems cover both mental retardation and psychiatric disorders (e.g. schizophrenia and depression).
This variable was coded based on police officers’ short statements at the time of arrest. In the present study,
mental retardation was coded if the statement said that arsonists had significantly low IQ scores and/or had the
experience of studying in special classes. Psychiatric disorder was coded if the statements named the diagnosis
of the disorder. The information regarding mental problems was rather limited because the present study only
employed the available information at the time of the arrest, which usually does not cover all the arsonists’ mental
retardation and psychiatric disorders.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
Characteristics of female serial arsonists in Japan 35

RESULTS

Offender background characteristics


The mean age for the 83 female serial arsonists was 37.6 years (standard deviation [SD]
14.2) and ranged from 14 to 78 years. Five percent were under 20 years old, 30% were
in their 20s, 21% were in their 30s, 22% were in their 40s, 14% were in their 50s, and 8%
were 60 years old or older. Forty-one percent of the female serial arson offenders only
completed elementary or junior high school (compulsory education) and 7% dropped out
of high school. Forty-three percent were unemployed and 19% were unskilled workers.
With regards to the offenders’ marital status and living conditions, 49% of the offend-
ers in this sample were married.5 Twenty-five percent of the offenders were living alone
and 29% were living with their parent(s).
Amongst the 83 offenders, 15 (18%) had mental retardation and 10 (12%) suffered from
psychiatric disorders. Two arsonists had both mental retardation and psychiatric disorder,
therefore, 23 (28%) were regarded as suffering from mental problems. Twenty-two percent
of the offenders had at least one previous arrest before the present arrest for arson: theft
(19%), arson (5%), and fraud (2%).

Spatial behaviours of offenders


This study first examined the spatial patterns of the serial female arsonists under consid-
eration. The median distances from home to the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth
offences were 97, 88, 57, 92, and 88 m, respectively (Table 1, Figure 1). Second, the dis-
tances between offences were analysed, which made it possible to understand the mobil-
ity of the female serial arson offenders. The median distances between the first and second,
second and third, third and fourth, and the fourth and fifth offences were 10, 45, 51, and
69 m, respectively (Table 2, Figure 2). This result demonstrated that female offenders com-
mitted their crimes in a very limited area around their home and it appears unlikely that
they would expand their criminal areas even as their series progressed.
The study by Suzuki (2006) suggested that age affected the distances travelled by
offenders. Table 1 shows the median and mean distances by age group, whilst Figure 1
presents the median distances travelled by each age group. Offenders in their 20s and 40s
moved relatively long distances, whereas those in their 30s, 50s, and 60s and above
travelled short distances from their homes. Observations regarding the distances between
offences (Table 2, Figure 2) reveal that the distances pertaining to the offenders in their
40s and 50s became longer as their series progressed. There were few changes between
the offences of the offenders in other age groups.

Defining thematic structures of action


Figure 3 presents the distribution of the 33 offence variables for the 83 offenders on a two-
dimensional MDS solution. The solution gave a Stress-1 index of 0.27. The abbreviated
variables in Figure 3 represent crime scene actions, which are explained in the Appendix.
In Figure 3, the higher the correlation between any two variables, the closer the points

5
Under the Japanese law, females aged 16 years and above have the right to marriage. In this sample, only one
arsonist (aged 14 years) was not of marriageable age. This sample was included in the calculation.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
36 Taeko Wachi et al.

Table 1. Distances travelled from home for each age group of female serial arsonists
Offence number

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Last

Total (N = 48)
Median 97 88 57 92 86 66
Minimum 0 0 0 0 0 0
Maximum 7839 10 779 21 472 16 990 13 444 8025
Mean 839 1 061 1 458 1 518 1 188 1131
SD 1572 2 139 3 493 3 354 2 628 2169
By age
20s (N = 16)
Median 351 107 480 480 161 480
Mean 1231 1 266 1 997 2 562 1 956 2393
SD 1686 1 693 2 420 4 348 2 757 2979
30s (N = 9)
Median 178 47 26 78 19 19
Mean 420 405 203 801 353 345
SD 810 828 315 1 703 816 820
40s (N = 9)
Median 302 376 389 263 331 302
Mean 1305 1 643 3 465 1 902 1 766 1305
SD 2545 2 566 7 134 4 572 4 388 2545
50s (N = 8)
Median 56 63 64 64 71 184
Mean 517 1 432 473 855 771 1030
SD 955 3 779 812 1 509 1 839 2247
60s and above (N = 6)
Median 42 85 34 65 73 39
Mean 150 129 205 120 79 45
SD 269 136 428 134 65 41
Distances were measured in meters.

Figure 1. Median distances travelled from home by age groups.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
Characteristics of female serial arsonists in Japan 37

Table 2. Distances between offences for each age group of female serial arsonists
Between offences

1st and 2nd 2nd and 3rd 3rd and 4th 4th and 5th

Total (N = 48)
Median 10 45 51 69
Minimum 0 0 0 0
Maximum 10 409 18 569 21 242 14 001
Mean 591 1 126 1 250 1 438
SD 1 744 3 120 3 784 3 398
By age
20s (N = 16)
Median 0 45 2 1
Mean 530 1 086 1 063 1 706
SD 1 331 1 854 3 454 3 587
30s (N = 9)
Median 20 39 33 33
Mean 33 303 711 487
SD 46 790 1 563 974
40s (N = 9)
Median 7 78 181 286
Mean 563 2 489 3 329 3 433
SD 1 054 6 070 7 202 5 844
50s (N = 8)
Median 107 23 86 172
Mean 1 737 1 308 693 740
SD 3 639 3 325 1 058 1 129
60s and above (N = 6)
Median 47 84 59 74
Mean 104 179 184 91
SD 133 266 281 83
Distances were measured in meters.

Figure 2. Median distances between offences by age groups.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
38 Taeko Wachi et al.

Figure 3. A two-dimensional MDS-solution of 33 crime scene actions for 83 female serial arsonists with equal
frequency contours and a suggested thematic split. Labels are brief summaries of crime scene actions and the
numbers before the labels refer to Appendix. Values in brackets are frequencies.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
Characteristics of female serial arsonists in Japan 39

representing these variables appear. For example, it is very unlikely that offenders who
set fire to a house owned by their relatives returned to the location where they had set the
fire. This method of representation makes it possible to grasp visually which offending
behaviours are shown at least once by a high percentage of the sample.

Core actions of the female serial arsonists


When looking at the frequency of occurrence of the actions in Figure 3, the high frequency
variables of serial arson are at the centre of the plot and the low frequency variables are
found at the outskirts of the plot. The frequency of each variable decreases as one moves
outward towards the edge of the plot. It is possible to draw contours covering variables
that occur in less than 15%, in 15 to 24%, in 25 to 64% and 65% and more of the cases.
This structure indicates the set of high frequency offending behaviours that are charac-
teristic of the majority of the female serial arsonists. In contrast, low frequency variables
are found at the edge of the plot and are assumed to characterise different patterns
of offences. In Figure 3, the high frequency variables (those committed by 65% of the
offenders) bound by the circle are as follows: (1) preparation of materials (MPrepared);
(2) bring materials for setting fire (MBrought); (3) use lighter; and (4) set fire directly to
a piece of wood or paper (DirectPaper). This list demonstrates that female serial arsonists
in Japan are typically characterised by going to a place with a lighter and setting fire
directly to combustible materials such as newspaper.
Looking at the spread of variables in Figure 3, certain criminal activities may be seen
to cluster together, suggesting common themes underlying various kinds of offending
behaviour. In the plot, two common themes underlying the criminal actions are apparent.
These can be differentiated in terms of the motivation being either expressive or instru-
mental. The graph’s upper region features offending activities relating to the expressive
theme and the lower region denotes various behaviours relating to the instrumental theme.

Expressive crime scene theme


As shown in Figure 3, the expressive crime scene theme was composed of opportunistic,
impulsive and emotional acts. Actions in this section included setting fire to houses, ware-
houses, and vehicles on back streets. These actions do not require any effort for setting
fire because offenders can find this kind of target everywhere. The female offenders of
this type were likely to be motivated by their emotional distress and the excitement of
setting and seeing the fire. These offenders frequently set multiple fires within a 12-hour
period and returned to the sites to observe the situation.

Instrumental crime scene theme


The Instrumental crime scene theme was composed of planned and goal-directed behav-
iours. The offenders classified as manifesting this theme were more likely to target the
places they worked at or residences of their relatives and acquaintances, examine their
targets beforehand and wait for an opportunity, and be motivated by revenge directed at
their targets. They tended to use cars or bicycles to reach the targeted place and set fire in
the morning. Sometimes, the offenders in this theme set fires in order to conceal other
crimes such as theft.
Fritzon and her colleagues took into account the target of the attack (person or object)
as well as the source of the action (instrumental or expressive). In all of their studies, the
criminal behaviours of arsonists could be categorised into four types (e.g. Almond et al.,

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
40 Taeko Wachi et al.

2005; Canter & Fritzon, 1998; Fritzon, Canter, & Wilton, 2001). In Figure 3, each region
may be subdivided in terms of direct/indirect damage to the target instead of the target of
the attack being either a person or an object. The expressive crime theme could be divided
into expressive indirect (top right-hand side in Figure 3) and expressive direct (top left-
hand side in Figure 3). The expressive indirect theme indicates that setting fire to an indi-
rect target such as a warehouse or a vehicle is an important element for relieving the
arsonist’s emotional distress or frustration. An example of criminal arson behaviour in
the expressive direct theme is setting fire to a residence on back streets by spreading oil.
The behaviour in this theme region aims to inflict direct damage to the target, which may
cause more serious damage than the former theme. In the instrumental indirect theme
(bottom right-hand side in Figure 3), the arsonist prepares the behaviour beforehand and
goes to the targeted place by car or bicycle. In the instrumental direct theme (bottom left-
hand side in the same figure), for example, the arsonist sets fire to the target directly from
street using oiled clothing in order to accomplish a goal such as revenge or crime con-
cealment. The criminal actions in this theme cause serious damage to the target. Thus, a
close examination of arsonists’ behaviours suggests the possibility of distinguishing
expressive and instrumental themes in terms of a direct or an indirect attack against targets.
The total number of subjects in this study is only 83 offenders (in the case of examin-
ing spatial behaviours, 48 offenders), which comprises the female serial arsonists identi-
fied in Japan in two decades. Therefore, dividing the arsonists into four themes results in
a very small number of arsonists being included in each theme. The motivating source of
the action (instrumental versus expressive) seems more explanatory, especially for the
spatial behaviour of the arsonist, than the direct/indirect dichotomy. Previous research indi-
cated that internal psychological processes, either emotional or goal-oriented, were influ-
ential factors on the journey-to-crime distance (e.g. Fritzon, 2001; White, 1932). Studies
such as Sapp et al. (1994) and Tamura (1999) also suggest the importance of motivation
in order to differentiate serial arsonists. Therefore, the following analysis will only focus
on the two common themes classified in terms of the motivating source of action, either
expressive or instrumental.

Assigning the sample cases to dominant behavioural themes


In order to examine the cases according to the dominant behavioural themes, each arson-
ist’s case was first given a score based on the number of variables included in each theme
and then the score was divided by the number of possible actions. Next, the proportions
were compared to each other. Salfati and Bateman (2005) proposed three different strate-
gies for comparing the proportions and identifying if one theme dominates over the other
according to the conservativeness of the criterion. In Strategy 1, the theme with the higher
proportion of behaviours is assigned as the dominant theme. This strategy has the most
liberal criteria amongst the three strategies, although it does not provide a reliable classi-
fication if the proportions of the two themes are very close. In Strategy 2, one theme is
assigned only when the proportion of behaviours of that theme is 1.5 times as high as that
of the other theme. In Strategy 3, the proportion of one theme must be twice as high as
the other theme; this is the most stringent criterion. According to their study, Strategy 2
is most suitable way of assigning serial homicides into instrumental and expressive themes
of actions (Salfati & Bateman, 2005). Therefore, in this study, Strategy 2 was employed
for classifying female serial arson cases into either expressive or instrumental themes of
behaviour.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
Characteristics of female serial arsonists in Japan 41

Each female serial arsonist case was classified according to the criteria of Strategy 2.
If the proportional score of the expressive theme was 1.5 times or more than the instru-
mental theme, the case was classified as involving the expressive theme. Using this
method, 66 arsonists (80% of the sample) were classifiable as fitting either the expressive
or the instrumental theme of behaviour. Of these 66 arsonists, 55 (83% of the classified
cases) were classified as fitting the expressive theme. Eleven cases (17%) fit the instru-
mental theme. This result is consistent with the previous studies, which suggested that
serial arsonists were more likely to show an expressive theme (e.g. Canter & Fritzon, 1998;
Fritzon, 1998).
Amongst the 48 offenders whose cases were detailed enough to examine their spatial
behaviours, 41 arsonists could be classifiable into either expressive or instrumental type.
Thirty-two arsonists were classified as the expressive type and nine arsonists were classi-
fied as the instrumental type.

Spatial behaviours of offenders


Expressive crime scene theme
The median distances travelled from home to the first five offences were calculated. The
median distances from home to the offence were 48, 52, 39, 41 and 44 m for the first,
second, third, fourth and fifth offences, respectively. Furthermore, the median distance
from home to the last offence in the series was 29 m.6 These results revealed that the female
serial arsonists who fitted the expressive crime scene theme committed crimes very close
to their homes and the distances travelled from home were not found to expand across the
series of arson crimes (Table 3). This result confirms the previous study of Fritzon (2001),
which showed that the ‘Display’ (expressive object) arsonists had a very limited pattern
of spatial behaviour.
Next, the distances between offences were examined. The median distances between
the first and second, second and third, third and fourth, and the fourth and fifth offences
were 9, 38, 43 and 55 m, respectively (Table 4). The distance between offences tended to
become greater as the series progressed. However, the criminal areas were still very
limited. For the expressive arsonists, their homes seem to be a determinant for the extent
of their criminal domain and they were unlikely to travel further even though the series
progressed.

Instrumental crime scene theme


In cases where the arsonist was classified as fitting the instrumental crime scene theme,
the distances travelled and the distances between the offences were measured in the same
way. The results were found to be very different from those of the expressive arsonists.
The median distances from home to the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth offences were
1374, 2358, 4027, 1707 and 2481 m, respectively. In addition, the median distance from
home to the last offence was 2481 m7 (Table 3). In general, the offenders corresponding
to the instrumental crime scene theme travelled in wider areas and the location of the first
offence seems more important for predicting the location of this type of offender’s home.

6
In 10 out of 32 expressive arsonist cases, the fifth offence used in the present study was the last offence.
7
In 2 out of 12 instrumental arsonist cases, the fifth offence was the last offence.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
42 Taeko Wachi et al.

Table 3. Distances travelled from home for each type of female serial arsonists
Offence number

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Last

Expressive (N = 32)
Median 48 52 39 41 44 29
Minimum 0 0 0 0 0 0
Maximum 7839 7839 7 145 14 001 6 574 5145
Mean 513 485 514 742 448 386
SD 1580 1582 1494 2 573 1397 1209
Instrumental (N = 9)
Median 1374 2358 4 027 1 707 2 481 2481
Minimum 14 14 14 64 14 14
Maximum 4618 3129 21 472 16 690 13 444 6755
Mean 1799 1817 4 926 4 012 3 848 2882
SD 1584 1250 6 633 5 324 4 497 2482
Distances were measured in meters.

Table 4. Distances between offences for each type of female serial arsonists
Between offences

1st and 2nd 2nd and 3rd 3rd and 4th 4th and 5th

Expressive (N = 32)
Median 9 38 43 55
Minimum 0 0 0 0
Maximum 512 1 409 7 955 14 001
Mean 66 148 364 789
SD 115 351 1 405 2 681
Instrumental (N = 9)
Median 9 2 406 476 408
Minimum 0 0 0 0
Maximum 3536 18 569 21 243 13 263
Mean 753 4 169 4 805 3 491
SD 1397 5 737 7 611 5 604
Distances were measured in meters.

A further analysis examined the distances between the offences. The median distance
between the first and second, second and third, third and fourth, and fourth and fifth
offences were 9, 2406, 476, and 408 m, respectively (Table 4). As these offenders tended
to set fire to specific places targeted by them for instrumental reasons, their travelling dis-
tances seemed to vary across the series.

Characteristics of the expressive and instrumental arsonists


The result of the Mann–Whitney test showed no statistically significant age difference
between expressive and instrumental types of arsonists (U = 227, z = −1.34, p = 0.18).
The median age of the expressive arsonists was 36 years. The median age of the instru-
mental group was 26 years. As can be seen in Table 5, the instrumental arsonists were

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
Characteristics of female serial arsonists in Japan 43

Table 5. Age distribution for each crime theme


Offending theme

Age Expressive* Instrumental†

Percentage of each group


10–19 3.6% 0%
20–29 25.5% 54.6%
30–39 25.5% 18.2%
40–49 21.8% 9.1%
50–59 12.7% 18.2%
60 and above 10.9% 0%
Median age 36 26
Minimum age 14 20
Maximum age 78 58
Mean age 38.9 32.1
SD 14.0 13.3
*n = 55 for expressive theme.
†n = 11 for instrumental theme.

likely to be younger than the expressive arsonists, although there was no statistically
significant age difference.
Regarding the variables of offender characteristics, namely criminal history, mental
problems, marital status, living condition, occupation and the highest level of education,
the Chi-square tests for these variables showed no statistically significant differences
between expressive and instrumental type of arsonists (Table 6). These results suggest that
it may be difficult to link the theme of a crime scene to the background characteristics of
female serial arsonists.
In the expressive group, 26% of the 55 offenders had a criminal history and 35%
suffered from mental problems. In contrast, 9% of the 11 instrumental offenders had a
criminal history and 18% suffered from mental problems. Of the expressive sample, 62%
were married at the time of the offences and 45% were living with their spouses, whereas
64% of the instrumental offenders were single and only 27% of the instrumental offend-
ers were living with their spouse. This difference in marital status and cohabitation may
be related to the different age distributions of the two types of offenders because the
expressive offenders were likely to be older.

Case example
Expressive arsonist
She was 56 years old at the time of the offences. She was married and living with her
husband and two children. Her intelligence was relatively low and she had only graduated
from junior high school (i.e. completed only compulsory education). She had a history of
alcohol abuse. At the time of the offence, she was unemployed. She had no previous arrests
before the series of offences. She committed six offences (some of them were sprees)
during 10 days in an area that was very close to her home (less than 50 m). When her
husband was not home (in the afternoon) or sleeping (at midnight), she went out to set
fires. She walked to her targets, carrying matches, oil and papers as well as getting dead

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
44 Taeko Wachi et al.

Table 6. Offender characteristics of each group


Percentage of each group
By χ2 test
Expressive Instrumental
Offender characteristics (%)* (%)† χ2 df p

Criminal history
Any 25.5 9.1 1.40 1 n.s
None 74.5 90.9
Mental problem
Any 34.5 18.2 1.13 1 n.s
None 65.5 81.8
Marital status
Married 61.5 36.4 2.35 1 n.s
Single 38.5 63.6
Living condition
Alone 27.5 36.4 1.18 2 n.s
With parents 27.5 36.4
With spouse 45.1 27.3
Education
Junior high 60.8 33.3 2.35 1 n.s
Higher level 39.2 66.7
Employment
Employed 43.6 54.5 0.44 1 n.s
Unemployed 56.4 45.5
*n = 55 for each variable except living condition, compulsory education (n = 51) and marital status (n = 52).
†n = 11 for each variable except education (n = 9).

grass near the crime locations. All her targets were warehouses and after spreading oil
over the dead grass, she set the fire and checked that the warehouses were actually burning.
She said: ‘At first, I was excited at seeing people gathering and making noise. However,
gradually I felt excited by the very act of setting the fire’.

Instrumental arsonist
She was 20 years old when she committed six offences in the afternoons during 1 week.
At the time of offences, she was living with her parents and had a boyfriend. She had grad-
uated from high school. She had been fired from the cleaning company where she had
worked immediately before the week of her offences. At each offence, she used a lighter
and set fires directly in rubbish bins inside the toilets in different train stations. She checked
that there was no surveillance CCTV in the toilets before her acts. She was very angry
about being fired and wanted revenge. She chose toilets that her company had usually
cleaned and rode her bicycle an average distance of 4.6 km to set fires at these targeted
places.

DISCUSSION

The present study examined the Japanese national police register records of all of the
arrested female serial arsonists in Japan between 1982 and 2005. Previous studies had
mainly examined female arsonists in prisons and psychiatric hospitals. Our sample is

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DOI: 10.1002/jip
Characteristics of female serial arsonists in Japan 45

consistent with other clinical samples in that female arsonists were likely to be unem-
ployed and undereducated (Harmon, Rosner, & Wiederlight, 1985; Stewart, 1993).
However, the age, marital status, criminal history, and incidence of mental problems differ
from the findings of previous studies. The mean age of our sample (37.6 years) is higher
than previous studies, where the mean age was between 25 and 30 years (Bourget & Brad-
ford, 1989; Noblett & Nelson, 2001; Stewart, 1993; Tennent et al., 1971). With regards to
the marital status, half of the Japanese sample was married, whereas most of the female
arsonists in the previous studies were single at the time of committing their offences
(Bourget & Bradford, 1989; Harmon, Rosner, & Wiederlight, 1985; Stewart, 1993;
Tennent et al., 1971). In addition, the most common previous crime in our Japanese sample
was theft, which is inconsistent to the findings of Stewart (1993: arson-related offences)
and Harmon, Rosner, and Wiederlight (1985: assault).
The greatest difference between the present study and the previous studies is related to
psychiatric disorder. In the present study, about 12% of the sample was noted to suffer
from a psychiatric disorder, whereas in the previous studies, more than half of the sub-
jects had some kind of mental disorder (e.g. Bourget & Bradford, 1989; Harmon et al.,
1985). In addition, the most common psychiatric diagnosis in the previous studies, namely
personality disorder, was not common (5%) in the present sample. The reasons for this
discrepancy could be attributed to the different criteria for selecting the samples. The
subjects of our study were the arrested female serial arsonists over a 24-year
period, whereas most of the previous studies examined offenders admitted to psychiatric
hospitals. Moreover, the present study may not have identified all the subjects’ psychiatric
disorders because not every person had received a detailed psychological assessment.
A much higher proportion of female arsonists (43%) were unemployed, compared to
male arsonists studied in Japan. Previous studies revealed that unemployed offenders
accounted for 30% of male serial arsonists and 20% of one-time arsonists (Suzuki &
Tamura, 1998; Ueno, 2000).
With regards to the distance pattern, a different pattern emerged as compared to that of
both male serial arsonists and serial arsonists in general who have been considered in pre-
vious studies (Sapp et al., 1994; Suzuki, 2006). The most significant difference between
the present and the previous studies was regarding the distance travelled from home. In
the present study, 50% of the female arsonists travelled less than 100 m across their series
of offences. In contrast, the study by Suzuki (2006), which examined the male serial arson-
ists in Japan, reported that half of his subjects, on an average, travelled a distance of less
than 1 km. In addition, the study by Sapp et al. (1994) revealed that 50% of the fires set
by serial arsonists were within 1 mile (approximately 1.6 km) or less of their residence.
These comparisons suggested that female serial arsonists significantly travelled shorter
distances from home than male serial arsonists. Therefore, if a series of arson incidents
occurred in a very restricted area, the possibility of a female offender would be very high.
In such cases, it is recommended that the police look for females residing in proximity to
the fires so as to arrest the offender.
Interesting results emerged from an examination of the spatial patterns by age. Offend-
ers in their 20s travelled long distances; however, the distances between their offences
were consistently short. Likewise, offenders in their 40s travelled long distances, but the
distances between their offences became longer as their series progressed. Moreover, those
in their 50s travelled short distances; however, the distances between their offences became
longer. It was also found that offenders in other age groups travelled short distances from
home and the distances between their offences were consistently short. Considering these

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
46 Taeko Wachi et al.

results, the following assumptions can be proposed: Young offenders (in their 20s) showed
tendencies to commit crimes away from their homes; however, all the offences were
committed in the same direction from home. In contrast, those in their 40s moved long
distances from home and the directions of the offences changed as the series progressed.
The offenders in their 50s committed crimes in the vicinity of their homes. However, the
direction would be different, which was similar to the crimes by offenders in their 40s.
Other offenders (in their 30s and 60s and above) committed their crimes in the very limited
area of their neighbourhood.
This spatial pattern was somewhat different from that in the previous study (Suzuki,
2006), which examined male serial arsonists. According to the present study, female arson-
ists in their 20s and 40s travelled relatively longer distances from their homes than those
in the other age groups. In contrast, Suzuki’s (2006) study revealed that male serial arson-
ists in their 30s travelled the longest distances. However, the tendency of old arsonists
travelling short distances remained consistent. Female serial arsonists in their 50s and
above in the present study and male serial arsonists in their 40s and above in Suzuki’s
(2006) study travelled particularly short distances, as compared to other age groups.
As the sample of each age group in the present study was very small, there could be
some difficulty in drawing conclusions regarding the different spatial patterns by each age
group. However, the results suggest the importance of examining the distances between
offences in addition to the distances travelled from home. Even though offenders might
travel the same distances from their residences, their moving patterns (i.e. directions of
the offences) may be different, depending on the offenders’ characteristics.
Female arsonists who committed more than four offences in an offence series were a
very small proportion of the whole pool of arrested arsonists. We assumed that these
offenders were more homogenous in terms of their offending behaviours and background
characteristics compared to arsonists as a whole group. The model of Canter and Fritzon
(1998), which was used to classify arsonists, proposes four types or themes for offences,
of which the ‘Display’ (i.e. expressive object) theme was the one theme most associated
with serial arson. However, in the examination of offending behaviours at crime scenes in
the present study, offending styles could readily be differentiated in terms of either an
expressive or an instrumental source of action. Expressive themes of action were com-
posed of opportunistic and less-planned behaviours, whereas instrumental themes of action
were composed of planned and goal-directed behaviours. This result suggests that the
expressive and instrumental dichotomy is a useful framework for examining the group of
female serial arsonists, supporting Hypothesis 1. The proportion of offenders that fitted
each group was different. The expressive theme was a much more common type of serial
arson action than the instrumental theme.
The present study found a clear structural distinction between expressive and instru-
mental themes of action. However, it differed in some respects from the model examin-
ing arson in general proposed by Canter and Fritzon (1998). First, it should be noted that
many of the variables studied here were different from previous studies (e.g. Canter &
Fritzon, 1998; Fritzon, Canter, & Wilton, 2001) because the availability of information
was limited to what was contained in police arrest files. Therefore, it is impossible to do
an exact comparison between studies. In addition, the frequencies of some variables
that the previous studies (Canter & Fritzon, 1998; Fritzon, Canter, & Wilton, 2001) had
examined were very small in the present study. Therefore, these variables were not
included in the MDS analysis. This difference may be explained in terms of the difference
between the samples; the present study only considered female serial arsonists, whereas

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Characteristics of female serial arsonists in Japan 47

the sample in the previous studies by Fritzon and her colleagues were dominated by male
arsonists. Unlike their male counterparts, female serial arsonists were unlikely to perform
the following actions: threatening victims beforehand; drinking alcohol and/or using drugs
before setting fires; targeting public buildings such as schools, civic buildings and hospi-
tals; and making an effort to enter the property they set fire to. For the present sample,
targeting anonymous building was not helpful for relieving their emotional distress. The
lack of these variables may have resulted in the difficulty in finding distinct patterns in
terms of the target of an attack, as either a person or an object, which were found in the
previous studies (e.g. Canter & Fritzon, 1998; Fritzon, Canter, & Wilton, 2001).
The high frequency variables in the present study were not the same variables as in the
previous study (Canter & Fritzon, 1998). For example, ‘material brought’ in the present
study were not the high frequency variable in the model proposed by Canter and Fritzon
(1998); ‘material brought’ was in the instrumental region in their model. As our study did
not discriminate between the person who always had a lighter or matches for smoking
from the person who only brought them for setting fires, the frequency of this variable
was high. In contrast, the previous study (Canter & Fritzon, 1998) only included the mate-
rial that the individual would not normally be carrying. In this latter case, this variable
was more related to planned actions, which resulted in it being included in the instrumental
theme.
When comparing the variables in the instrumental and expressive themes of action,
some differences could be found between the present study and the previous study by
Fritzon and her colleagues. In our study, the crime scene variable ‘business’ appeared in
the instrumental theme of action, whereas in the previous study (Canter & Fritzon, 1998),
it was related to the expressive theme. In the present female sample, shops like a super-
market or a beauty salon were more likely to become a target for revenge because females
go to these shops more often and may have more problems or anger towards them than
the sample dominated by male arsonists in the study by Canter and Fritzon (1998). More-
over, in the present study, the crime scene variables of ‘vehicle’, ‘outside’, and ‘two fires
within 12 hours (spree)’ appeared in the expressive theme, although in the model of Canter
and Fritzon (1998), they appear in the instrumental theme. For the female serial arsonists,
vehicles and objects outside are likely to be just a target of emotional acting out and they
have no special meaning for the arsonists. They see these objects and think that it is easy
to set them on fire. In addition, as spree in this study was defined as two fires within 12
hours, whereas two fires within 24 hours was used in the previous study (Canter & Fritzon,
1998), the present study had no cooling-off period and therefore was very related to
emotional arousal.
When looking at the spatial behaviours of the female serial arsonists, a clear distinc-
tion was found. The results support Hypothesis 2 that the spatial patterns of female serial
arsonists are different depending on their offending styles. The instrumental arsonists were
likely to travel further from their homes than the expressive arsonists. This can be
explained by the fact that instrumental arsonists make an effort to reach their targeted
place, irrespective of its distance from their home base. Additionally, the instrumental
arsonists are unlikely to show consistent patterns of travelling over time, which makes it
difficult to predict the location of future offences based on previous offence locations, as
well as to predict the offender’s home base. However, if the locations of offences are scat-
tered across a wide area, the police might be able to identify the offender by examining
the victim’s relationships because instrumental arsonists are more likely to be motivated
by revenge and therefore specifically target their victims. In contrast, the expressive

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
48 Taeko Wachi et al.

arsonists committed their offences in very limited areas, which enables the police to more
readily identify the area of this type of offender’s home base. When offence locations are
concentrated in a small area, the police should examine the neighbours first because half
of these offenders committed their crimes within 50 m from their own home. By examin-
ing the patterns of offence locations, the police could choose an appropriate way of
investigating possible offenders.
Compared to the useful information provided by the analysis of offenders’ spatial behav-
iours, the present study had difficulty in linking the offending behaviours of female serial
arsonists to their offender characteristics. These results provide little support for Hypoth-
esis 3 that the offenders’ background characteristics are likely to be different depending
on their offending styles. This is in contrast to previous studies that found a clear link
between the offending behaviours and offender background characteristics (e.g. Canter &
Fritzon, 1998; Fritzon, Canter, & Wilton, 2001). This result may reflect the reality that
female serial arsonists constitute a very similar population in terms of their offender char-
acteristics. However, another possibility is that the present study could not find any links
between offending behaviour and offender characteristics even though each group does
have different background characteristics. If this is the case, one possible reason may be
attributed to the small sample size, although this study covered all the female serial arson-
ists who committed at least five arson crimes and were registered in the police records
between 1982 and 2005. If additional subjects had been examined, the following charac-
teristics could have been found since the proportions of some offender characteristics were
different. The expressive offenders were older, married and more likely to have mental
problems and records of past criminal arrest(s). However, the instrumental offenders were
younger, single, and had fewer problems, such as past arrests, mental problems and low
education qualifications. Another reason may be limitations in selecting the variables indi-
cating offender characteristics. Whilst the previous studies examined more detailed infor-
mation, such as recent separation from their partners and suicide attempts (e.g. Canter &
Fritzon, 1998; Fritzon, Canter, & Wilton, 2001), the data in the present study did not
include such information.
The present study examined the rare group of Japanese female serial arsonists. As female
arsonists have previously not been paid attention to, the results of this study could con-
tribute to gaining an understanding of female serial arsonists. Based on our findings, the
following description of female arsonists was obtained. They are typically middle-aged
women who are married and usually engaged in housework for their families. Although
they do not have high educational backgrounds, they generally have a normal mental
health and criminal history. These results differed from the previous findings of the clini-
cal samples, according to which most of the women suffered from mental disorders. The
behaviours of these female serial arsonists could be differentiated into the expressive and
instrumental types of arsonists. Although female serial arsonists travelled relatively short
distances from their homes, the distance patterns were different according to the type of
arsonist. The expressive type of arsonists, who displayed opportunistic and less-planned
behaviours, set fires to places close to their homes. The instrumental type of arsonists, who
exhibited planned and goal-directed action, travelled longer distances to their targeted
places. In addition, a close examination of the offending behaviours suggested the possi-
bility of distinguishing these themes in terms of direct versus indirect attacks against a
target. However, the present study was unable to explore this in depth because of the small
sample size. In this study, it was difficult to attribute this difference to a single specific
factor with respect to the sample; this may be because the sample covered females, serial

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Characteristics of female serial arsonists in Japan 49

arsonists or even Japanese people. Future studies are required in order to examine whether
these four categories could readily be identified in the behaviour of serial arsonists. More-
over, the present study examined the change in the spatial pattern over time, and conse-
quently, it revealed the different spatial patterns by offender characteristics (i.e. age) and
behavioural type at the crime scene (i.e. expressive versus instrumental). This demon-
strated the importance of examining the change in offenders’ moving patterns over time.
It is useful to examine the change in criminal behaviours over time as well, which may
contribute to gaining a better understanding of the development and escalation of the
offences across a series.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful to the National Police Agency for its assistance in conducting our
study.

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APPENDIX: OFFENCE VARIABLES

(1) MORNing: The offender set the fire in the morning.


N = 19; 23%
(2) AFTRnoon: The offender set the fire in the afternoon.
N = 29; 35%
(3) EVEning: The offender set the fire in the evening.
N = 32; 39%
(4) NIGHT: The offender set the fire at night.
N = 53; 64%
(5) RESidential: The fire was set on a residential property such as a house or apartment.
N = 52; 63%
(6) BUSIness: The fire was set on a commercial property such as business premises.
N = 19; 23%

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
Characteristics of female serial arsonists in Japan 51

(7) VEHIcle: The fire was set on any type of vehicle such as a car or motorbike.
N = 5; 6%
(8) WAREhouse: The fire was set on warehouses.
N = 20; 24%
(9) OUTside: The fire was set outside such as on the street, in a park, or in a field.
N = 18; 22%
(10) RUBbish: The fire was set on rubbish.
N = 28; 34%
(11) BACKstreet: The target was situated on the back street.
N = 42; 51%
(12) TARGETknown: The offender targeted the houses, where their acquaintances were
staying at the time of the fire, or the company where they were working.
N = 10; 12%
(13) VictimSLEEP: The victim was sleeping at the time of the fire.
N = 38; 46%
(14) CAR/motorbike: The offender arrived or left the scene by a car or motorbike.
N = 18; 22%
(15) BICYcle: The offender arrived or left the scene on a bicycle.
N = 10; 12%
(16) lighter: A lighter was used for setting the fire.
N = 71; 86%
(17) MATCH: Matches were used for setting the fire.
N = 25; 30%
(18) OIL: Oil was used for setting the fire.
N = 22; 27%
(19) RETURN: The offender returned to the scene.
N = 9; 11%
(20) SAMEPlace: The offender targeted the same place.
N = 24; 29%
(21) fromSTREET: The offender set the fire from street.
N = 16; 20%
(22) 2FIRES/12h: The offender had set more than one fire with a gap of no more than 12
hours.
N = 52; 63%
(23) REVENGE: The offender set the fire out of revenge to the target.
N = 24; 29%
(24) EMOTIONal: The offender set the fire, motivated by emotional distress or
frustration.
N = 52; 63%
(25) EXCITEment: The offender set the fire, motivated by excitement of watching the
fire and people gathering.
N = 9; 11%
(26) CrimeCONceal: The offender set the fire to conceal other crimes such as theft.
N = 9; 11%
(27) DIRectOIL: The offender set the fire directly after she spread oil.
N = 13; 16%
(28) directpaper: The offender set the fire directly on a piece of wood or paper.
N = 64; 77%

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip
52 Taeko Wachi et al.

(29) ClOTHingOIL: The offender used a piece of oiled clothing or paper.


N = 18; 22%
(30) materialbrought: The offender brought materials such as matches or lighters to the
site.
N = 71; 86%
(31) materialprepared: The offender prepared a material.
N = 73; 88%
(32) LOOKbefore: The offender examined the target beforehand.
N = 9; 11%
(33) ACTbefore: The offender performed action such as calling the victim or waiting for
an opportunity in the victim’s garden before setting the fire.
N = 13; 16%

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Investig. Psych. Offender Profil. 4: 29–52 (2007)
DOI: 10.1002/jip

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