Prior to 1991, the City of Louisville’s Arson Bureau did not have access to mental health professionals for treatment of the juvenile fire setters. The Arson Bureau had developed their own method of handling the offenders. This method involved reprimanding the juvenile fire setter, have the fire setter light and burn a box of kitchen matches one at a time, threatening arrest, showing photographs of fire victims and if necessary, actually making arrests and taking the offender to court. The Arson Bureau determined that this approach was not successful and had many offenders repeating their crime of arson.
The Arson Bureau approached Bingham after having determined that having only punishment was not going to be successful. The plan was then developed to have offenders that go to court be required to have an evaluation and participate in the therapy program at the Bingham Child Guidance Center.
The three organizations involved are: the Arson Bureau, the Courts that make up the juvenile justice system, and Bingham Child Guidance Center. Each have distinct responsibilities related to the handling of the juvenile fire setter. First, the Arson Bureau investigates the fire and if determined that a juvenile is the instigator, identifies the juvenile offender and brings him or her before the Court. The Courts order the juvenile offender to enter and complete the treatment program offered by Bingham. Bingham mental health professionals schedule and perform an evaluation to determine what problems are causing the behavior. Based on this evaluation, a treatment plan of therapy will be developed which will include sessions between the therapist and only the juvenile offender, and sessions between the therapist, the juvenile offender, and the appropriate family member or guardian.
