In 1991, after many third and fourth attempts to deal with children who set fires, a partnership was formed between the Louisville Fire Department and Bingham Child Guidance Center. This partnership also involved other law enforcement agencies, the court system, and agencies who worked with children involved in fires. The partnership began out of necessity. The approach being applied at the time lacked the clinical expertise to evaluate children to determine the underlaying problems causing them to set fires and to then be able to recommend the needed therapy. Prior to the partnership, the Arson Bureau found that children who set fires were often repeat offenders.
Realizing that only punishing the juvenile offenders did not stop them from repeating the act, the partnering agencies developed a model that could take the juvenile offenders identified as being fire setters and have an evaluation completed and therapy plan developed that would get to the root of the problems causing the undesirable activities. The national statistics indicated that the juveniles starting fires most often had other mental and emotional problems and their fire setting was a cry for attention.
The partnership did produce the desired impact of reducing repeat juvenile offenders starting fires. In the first seven years of the partnership, 503 juvenile fire setters were evaluated and treated by Bingham Child Guidance Center and only 6 of the 503 (1%) were repeat offenders. The indication is that when the causes of the fire setting, which are the emotional or psychological problems, are treated through intensive therapy sessions, the effect of the treatment is a reduction in the activity.
Juvenile fire setting is a national problem. Nationally, over half of all arsons are set by juveniles. The answers must begin at the local level. Every community is susceptible to property loss and casualties resulting from the problem of juvenile fire setters. Every community should consider this model as a possible plan to address the problem. Although no one plan is right for every community, every community must have a plan in place that identifies the source of the problem and provides answers that work in addressing the issue on both the short term and long term basis.
