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Introduction
Acid attacks or acid throwing, are incidents in which a corrosive or noxious substance is thrown or used to attack the victim, with the goal to maim, disfigure or blind and consequently cause devastating injuries. Attacks are rarely fatal but can leave the victim with lifelong physical and psychological difficulties (Acid Survivors Trust International, 2018b; Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity, 2010; Twoon et al., 2016).
Despite recent legislations making it an offence to use or carry a corrosive substance without a valid reason within England and Wales (The Crown Prosecution Service, 2018), reports of acid attacks have increased within the UK, with the number of recorded corrosive fluid offences in London alone rising from 158 in 2012 to 909 in 2018, totalling 7,292 for the 16 year period (The Metropolitan Police, 2019). It is estimated that per capita, the UK has one of the highest rates of acid attacks recorded globally (Acid Survivors Trust International, 2018b). The recent spike in acid attacks across the UK and the low number of positive outcomes has led to campaigns for a reform of legislation: in February 2018 the Sentencing Council published new guidelines on acid attacks explicitly listing acid as a potentially dangerous weapon and recommended the same punishment assessment as knife-crime (The Crown Prosecution Service, 2018). Although incidents of acid attacks are widely reported across media (Dearden, 2018; Jones, 2018; Nolan, 2018), little research has attempted to study the crime in relation to the offence and offender characteristics.
The motivations behind acid attacks
The literature would suggest that the reasons for, and characteristics of attacks vary globally. Sabzi Khoshnami et al. (2017) stated that acid attacks have become more prevalent in developing countries, particularly in areas of Asia and Africa. The authors identified the most common scenario within these areas consisting of a male perpetrator throwing sulfuric acid at a young woman, for purposes relating to honour: such as revenge, family disputes or rejected marriage proposals. Moreover, relationship rejection was seen as one of the most common motivations behind acid attacks on women throughout numerous Asian countries including Taiwan (Yeon et al., 1997), Bangladesh (Begum, 2004; Faga et al., 2000; Mannan et al., 2004), Hong Kong (Young et al., 2002) and Sri-Lanka...