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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.

Sophie Mitchell

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
  • 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

PGR Supervision

  • 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
  • Amy Newton Women’s Experiences of Domestic Violence and Abuse Before, During and After Their Incarceration. Start Date: 01/05/2025

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

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