Research Report 121: The motivations of offenders who carry and use acid

This report presents the findings of a study that explored the motivations of offenders who carry and/or use acid and other corrosive substances. This fulfils an action within the Government’s Serious Violence Strategy (Home Office, 2018) and the Acid Attacks Action Plan to undertake research due to the growing concerns over the increased use of acid and corrosive substances in crime. The project was conducted in three phases.

• To provide an understanding of the contexts in which corrosive substance attacks occur and the characteristics of these cases, police case file data from 648 recorded offences involving corrosive substances, across eight police force areas, were collected.
• Interviews were conducted with 25 offenders convicted of offences where a corrosive substance had been used. The key aim of these interviews was to gain a better understanding of the main motivations for carrying and using corrosive substances in crime events.
• Consultations took place with 29 experts working in the criminal justice sector or within other agencies that have an interest in corrosive substance crime. The main purpose of these consultations was to gain a better understanding about what kinds of preventative strategies could be developed to reduce the number of crimes involving corrosive substances.