Word: arsons
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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That poverty, unemployment, slum housing, and inadequate education underlie the nation's urban riots is well known, but the obviousness of these causes may have blinded us to the more subtle role of other possible factors, including brain dysfunction in the rioters who engaged in arson, sniping, and physical assault...
...course there are drawbacks to the job. For instance, risking one's life trying to put out an obviously arson-caused fire is not a very rewarding experience...
...appetite for mayhem. When Curcio, then a sociology student, formed the group in 1969, its activities were largely limited to rhetoric about the need for "an armed proletariat vanguard" to do battle against "the imperialist state of the multinationals." In the early 1970s, the group moved from vandalism and arson into a new field: kidnapings of plant managers and junior executives, who were usually freed after admitting crimes at "people's trials...
Thompson also achieved his second goal, a tough new crime bill that imposes minimum sentences for serious offenses. He asked for mandatory imprisonment of from six to 30 years for what he called "Class X crimes," including rape, arson, hard-drug transactions and armed violence of any kind. The legislature watered down some features of the bill but basically gave him what he asked for. Says Thompson: "It's time to put to rest the notion that prisons are for rehabilitation. When they can accomplish that end, it is good. But the primary purpose of prison is to separate...
...cause of both fires is unknown, although arson has not been ruled out. The fire department's arson squad was present at the blaze, which was brought under control...