Acid Attacks

Abstract

This chapter presents an exploration of violence involving corrosive substances, widely referred to as ‘acid attacks’. While by no means common, acid attacks occur around the globe and lead to significant physical and emotional harms to survivors and their families. However, while acid attacks have attracted significant media and policy attention, they remain an under-researched and poorly understood phenomenon. This chapter explain some of the difficulties in obtaining prevalence rates and offers some discussion on how acid attacks follow very different patterns in different countries. In terms of gender, the data we do have shows that while acid attacks in some low- and middle-income countries predominantly affect women and can be viewed as a form of gender-based violence, in many high-income countries, the majority of victims are men and attacks often take place during the commission of other offences, such as robberies or burglaries. This chapter then goes on to provide an overview of some useful explanatory theories for acid attacks, before outlining some suggestions for future policy, practice and research. Further work needs to be done, especially with offenders, to identify preventative strategies and ascertain ‘what works’ in relation to reducing acid-based violence.