Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2018

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

The purpose of this research is to focus on and identify the behavioral and motivational characteristics of female firesetters of all ages in the state of Oklahoma. The current theory is that female arsonists are motivated most often by revenge. This research seeks and attempts to define the current underlying motivations of female arsonists in Oklahoma and refute or support the contemporary revenge theory. This study is determined to discover the primary motive of female firesetters in Oklahoma. It is hypothesized that revenge is the primary motive of female firesetters in Oklahoma to the same extent as other female firesetters throughout the United States. The previous studies do not address female firesetters behavior in terms of the motives of importance to arson investigations. This study will focus on the motives of this subset of offenders which may prove valuable to investigators in the state of Oklahoma and throughout the region. Throughout the study, the motives are defined, the arson charges in Oklahoma are defined, and case examples are provided. The six motives tested were: vandalism, excitement, revenge, profit, crime concealment, and mental disorder. In this research, thirty-three (33) solved female arson cases from the state of Oklahoma were analyzed. The sample represents all the known arsons committed by females in Oklahoma during the 5 year time period from 2012-2017. Those cases were analyzed using a coding form to compare and contrast for statistical analysis. There were three tests used within the study: One Sample Proportion Test, Effect Size Test, and Fisher's Exact Test. Due to the small sample size, each test gave insufficient results. However, those tests did not support nor refute the hypothesis which left the results to remain neutral. With a larger sample size, the results would be more sufficient. Overall, revenge was the most consistent motive associated with female firesetters in Oklahoma during the time period for this study.

Description

Keywords

Citation

DOI

Related file

Notes