Arson

Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercraft, or forests. The crime is typically classified as a felony, with instances involving risk to human life or property carrying a stricter penalty. Arson that results in death can be further prosecuted as manslaughter or murder. A common motive for arson is to commit insurance fraud. In such cases, a person destroys their own property by burning it and then lies about the cause in order to collect against their insurance policy. Arson is also often committed to conceal another crime, such as murder or burglary.

A person who commits arson is referred to as an arsonist, or a serial arsonist if the person has committed arson several times. Arsonists normally use an accelerant (such as gasoline or kerosene) to ignite, propel, and direct fires, and the detection and identification of ignitable liquid residues is an important part of fire investigations. Pyromania is an impulse control disorder characterized by the pathological setting of fires. Most acts of arson are not committed by pyromaniacs.

The term derives from Law French arsoun (late 13th century), from Old French arsion, from Late Latin ārsiōnem "a burning," (acc.) from the verb ardēre, "to burn."

The Old English term was bærnet, lit. "burning"; and Edward Coke has indictment of burning (1640). Arsonist is from 1864.

English Common Law defines arson as "the malicious burning of the dwelling of another."

This definition has four elements:

Many U.S. state legal systems and the legal systems of several other countries divide arson into degrees, depending sometimes on the value of the property but more commonly on its use and whether the crime was committed in the day or night.

Many statutes vary the degree of the crime according to the criminal intent of the accused. Some US states use other degrees of arson, such as "fourth" and "fifth" degree, while some states do not categorize arson by any degree. For example, in the state of Tennessee, arson is categorized as "arson" and "aggravated arson."