This book provides an authoritative overview of the contemporary phenomenon widely labelled as ‘acid attacks’. From what was once a 'gendered crime', acid attacks have become much more diverse with random attacks on shoppers, use of acid by drug cartels, and attacks by women on men for ‘manspreading’. Drawing upon a range of primary and secondary data sources, the book explores the historical use of corrosives in crime, legal definitions of such attacks, the contexts in which corrosives are used, victim characteristics, offender motivations for carrying and decanting corrosives, and preventative strategies. Data is drawn from the international literature, and the analysis of primary data collected in the UK (which us thought to have one of the highest rates of acid attacks in the world) from interviews with over 20 convicted offenders and from police case files relating to over 1,000 crimes involving corrosive substances. This book will add significantly to the international literature on weapons-carrying and use, which to date has predominantly focused around the possession and use of guns and knives.       weiterlesen