Arson And Electroy Evidence

What is arson? Black’s Law Dictionary defines the term as “the criminal act of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to buildings, midland areas, vehicles or other properly with the intent to cause damage and/ or cover up a primary criminal activity of some nature.” (Garner, 2009) Arson can also involve fires deliberately set to the property of another or to one’s own property to collect insurance compensation. A person committing this crime is called an arsonist. (FBI 2012) This research paper will briefly discuss the use of arson to conceal a crime and / or destroy evidence.

Arson as mentioned above may be committed to conceal another crime, to destroy evidence in another crime, or to simply mislead investigators (i.e., staging). Most often, offenders are very unsuccessful at concealing crimes through arson. However it is essential that investigators are aware of the possibility in searching the arson crime scene. Evidence of other crimes at an arson scene may be obvious (e.g., a dead body with gunshot wounds to the head). Large amounts of liquid accelerants are often present at such scenes (Holmes and Holmes 2009). Usually related crime offers more informative leads regarding who was responsible for it than the arson. A primary

(FBI 2012) To establish that arson has occurred, there must be evidence of the fire being deliberately set. The most common way to help establish this is to confirm the use of an acceleration in setting the fire. Such as gasoline, kerosene, and lighter fluid. The fire often destroys critical physical evidence that could assist in determining whether it was willfully set. When arson is used with the purpose of destroying records, the fire is set in the area where they are contained. Evidence collected can be used to first determine the cause of the fire. If it is arson, the evidence can be used to find the person who committed the