Dr Sophie Mitchell

Assistant Professor

School: Humanities and Social Sciences

I am an Assistant Professor in Social Sciences at Northumbria University, teaching across Criminology and Policing programmes. I am also a practitioner with extensive experience in mental health care and education. I have experience of working with women who have experienced trauma, often relating to domestic violence and also those involved in the criminal justice system. This practitioner experience working with disadvantaged and marginalised groups informs my teaching and research.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My doctoral research focused on the traumatic impact of prison on mothers and their families. My research interests include gendered violence, mental health, women and the criminal justice system. There is a particular focus on the links between trauma experiences, mental health and offending. I also have an interest in issues concerning vulnerabilty as relating to policing and how these needs are supported within the criminal justice system.

I am a member of a research cluster for offenders with complex needs and also the gendered violence and abuse inter-disciplinary research theme.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Discipline-switching through a Bourdieusian lens: examining the experiences of academics moving into criminology, Cook, I., Stephens-Griffin, N., Laing, M., Barwick, D., Mitchell, S. 6 Jun 2026, In: The British Journal of Criminology
The intergenerational impacts of maternal imprisonment, Mitchell, S. 15 Jan 2026, Women, Relationships & Criminal Justice: Recognising the Personal, Public & Professional , Bristol, Bristol University Press
Relational trauma: the impact on family relationships of maternal imprisonment, Mitchell, S. 1 Nov 2025, In: Families, Relationships and Societies
The gendered trauma trajectories of mothers entering prison, Mitchell, S. 1 Mar 2025, In: Probation Journal
Victims and Criminal Justice: a history, by Pam Cox, Robert Shoemaker and Heather Shore, Oxford, Clarendon Studies in Criminology, Oxford University Press, 2023, 279 pp., £90.00/$113.00 (hardback), ISBN: 978-0-19-284648-8, Mitchell, S. 2 Jul 2024, In: Social History
Maternal Imprisonment: The Enduring Impact of Imprisonment on Mothers and their Children, Baldwin, L., Mitchell, S. 25 Oct 2022, The Routledge Handbook of Women’s Experiences of Criminal Justice, London, Taylor & Francis
Maternal Sentencing and the Rights of the Child S.Minson. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan (2020) 279pp. £64.99hb ISBN 978–3030327378, Mitchell, S. 1 Mar 2021, In: Howard Journal of Crime and Justice
The role of trauma in the lives of mothers who have experienced imprisonment, Mitchell, S. 8 Jul 2019, British Society of Criminology Conference 2019

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Invited talk: Maternal imprisonment: Research on the impact of intergenerational trauma 2022

PGR Supervision

Amy Newton Women’s Experiences of Domestic Violence and Abuse Before, During and After Their CJS Involvement. Start Date: 01/05/2025
Amy Newton Women’s Experiences of Domestic Violence and Abuse Before, During and After Their Incarceration. Start Date: 01/05/2025 End Date: 17/10/2025
Jami Anderson-Smith Understanding Self-Harm from the Lived Experiences of Women and Staff in the Probation Service Start Date: 01/10/2026

Qualifications

Criminology PhD June 22 2022
Educational Development MA June 30 2005
Post Graduate Certificate in Education in Learning and Teaching PGCert August 31 2001
Psychology BSc (Hons) July 10 1997
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy FHEA 2023