ncrease. In the early part of the 1990s, juvenile arson arrests remained constant at about 40 percent. In 1993, the figure was 49 percent. The majority of those arrested for arson in 1994 were under 15, and nearly 7 percent were young than 10. Using FBI statistics, it is estimated that there are at least 100,000 fires annually in the US directly attributable to children.
The above numbers may, in fact, be quite low in relation to the total number of suspicious fires thought to be arson because many states do not have statutes that permit younger children to be charged with arson, still more are wary of labeling a child an arsonist. Most children who commit arson begin to set fires further away from their own homes as they begin to get older.
Like juveniles who set fires, their adolescent counterparts come from a variety of family circumstances. The majority of children who set fires live with their biological parents in an intact family situation, or with a single b
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