Professor Sarah Soppitt

Sarah is a professor in criminology who has developed a considerable body of work, and reputation for applied criminological research. She has been involved in criminal justice research, consultancy and evalutions nationally and internationally for twenty years, primarily addressing issues associated with justice involved young people . Most recently, with her colleagues Dr Rebecca Oswald and Dr Samantha Walker, Sarah has been focusing on serious youth violence and children criminal exploitaiton.  Currently Sarah, (with Sam and Rebecca) is conducitng research around child first approaches with young people involved in serious youth violence (British Academy), the support availble in commnuties affected by serious youth violence and anti-social behaviour (Durham PCC), and the use of threat to life warnings with under 18s.  Collectively they have developed the Safer Children Network (NE), a knowledge transfer platform for those working with young people involved in, or at risk from serious youth violence. https://hosting2.northumbria.ac.uk/saferchildrennetwork/

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• A Vision for Lasting Change: Shaping Durham and Darlington's Support for Young People, Soppitt, S., Walker, S., Oswald, R., Cosgrove, F. 1 Mar 2025
• Challenges in capturing the authentic voice of the ‘unchildlike child’, Walker, S., Oswald, R., Soppitt, S. 1 Jul 2025, Co-production in Youth Justice, London, Routledge
• More than Words: English as an additional Language in Police Recruitment and Promotion Processes, Soppitt, S., Hall, G., Rowe, M., Malik, A., Mitchell, Z., Sinclair, K. 12 Nov 2025, In: Policing and Society
• The role of ‘place’ in understanding the drivers of serious youth violence: an examination of identity, territorialism, and community, Walker, S., Oswald, R., Soppitt, S. 14 Jun 2025, In: Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Durham Serious Violence Prevention Partnership: Violence Prevention Fund: An Evaluation of Four Projects, Soppitt, S., Oswald, R., Walker, S. 1 Aug 2024
• Improving the Hope of Young People Impacted by Serious Violence and Child Criminal Exploitation: Full Report May 2024, Oswald, R., Soppitt, S., Walker, S., Irving, A. 17 May 2024
• “Improving the Hope of Young People impacted by Serious Violence and Child Criminal Exploitation”. Interim Report April 2023, Oswald, R., Walker, S., Soppitt, S., Irving, A. 4 Jun 2024
• ‘Safe spaces and places’: the value of design-led methodologies in developing online narratives, Oswald, R., Soppitt, S., Spencer, N., Powell, L., Richardson, C., Coombs, S. 3 May 2024, In: International Journal of Social Research Methodology
• The Digital Turn in Social Work Education and Practice, Toros, K., Falch-Eriksen, A., Lehtme, R., Saia, K., McInnes, A., Soppitt, S., Oswald, R., Walker, S. 27 Sep 2023, Smart Learning Ecosystems as Engines of the Green and Digital Transition, Singapore, Springer
• Condemned to precarity? Criminalised youths, social enterprise and the sub-precariat, Soppitt, S., Oswald, R., Walker, S. 15 Jun 2022, In: Social Enterprise Journal

• Criminology MA September 01 1994
• Applied Social Science BSc September 01 1991
• Fellow (FHEA) Higher Education Academy (HEA) 2005