The aim of this chapter is to present a psychologically oriented, motivational model of honour-based violence (HBV) perpetration. It briefly considers existing theories of HBV and identifies some of their shortcomings, especially their failure to account for some of the empirical evidence concerning HBV perpetration, including violence against men. It then proposes an alternative theoretical framework (the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB); Ajzen, 1991, 2001, 2011) that can be applied to explain individual motivation to commit an act of HBV. It argues that the TPB model accounts more readily than gender-exclusive or culturally based explanations for the perpetration of violence justified by claims of honour.

Although there are many definitions of HBV in the literature, this chapter uses the following operational definition:‘a crime or incident, which has been committed to protect or defend the honour of a family and/or community’(ACPO, 2010, p. 5). This was devised by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), a body whose remit is to provide leadership and governance for the 43 police forces in England and Wales. The definition aimed to draw the attention of police officers to all forms of crime committed in the name of honour. By not referring to the sex of the perpetrator or the victim, it contrasts with definitions that explicitly identify HBV as a form of male violence against women (eg Meetoo and Mirza, 2007; Welchman and Hossain, 2005). This is important because it leaves open the possibility of male victimisation and female perpetration. The APCO definition also draws attention to