Brandstiftungen und deren Täter in den Niederlanden

Despite the fact that arson is common and has serious negative consequences, a lack of empirical studies is present. This article gives an overview of the Dutch empirical data on arson and arsonists in order to provide insight in the position of arsonists in the Netherlands. A large amount of arson cases remain unsolved and arson is undervalued in empirical research. The high number of unresolved cases must not be seen as the reason for this lack of empirical research. Instead, because knowledge is lacking, detection and prosecution of arsonists is impeded. Therefore, this study tries to increase knowledge on arson and arsonists by clustering available data, enabling treatment to be better tailored to this population. Results show that arson is an offence of which the perpetrators often (are suspected to) have mental problems and often are placed in forensic psychiatric hospitals. However, despite the disordered offender population, the prognosis of arsonists after treatment appears relatively favourable with lower recidivism rates.