Prevention of arson and fire-starting
Over a number of years, Dr Gary Winship has conducted research into fire-starting and arson, and their connection to mental health and offending for local and national agencies...
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Over a number of years, Dr Gary Winship has conducted research into fire-starting and arson, and their connection to mental health and offending for local and national agencies.
Dr Winship’s work in this area aims to understand the relationship between malicious fire-setting as an act of youthful delinquency and its later presentation as an adult psychiatric condition. As a rare, but serious behaviour, fire starting compulsion requires an understanding of its developmental and psychological aspects.
By building theory around this issue it is possible to review implications for practice and strategies for prevention and treatment. Part of the dissemination of this work has included an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded seminar series that examined theories of malicious fire setting, including strategies for diagnosis, prevention and methods of treatment.
Future plans in this area include research to track the way in which the urge to set fires comes in and out of the lives of some young people, and developing an intervention for young, persistent fire starters in Nottinghamshire.