The Application of the Bangkok Rules though Law and Court Practice: The Sentencing of Pregnant Women and Mothers of Dependent Children in England and Wales

WICC2025 Presentation by Dr Shona Minson PhD (WICC2025-PID102)

Author

Dr Shona Minson

Research Academic, University of Oxford, UK

Dr Shona Minson is a Research Academic at the University of Oxford and a BBC New Generation Thinker. Having worked as a criminal and family barrister she researches sentencing and the rights of children impacted by their mothers’ involvement with the criminal justice system. Her work, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and British Academy, has influenced development of policy and practice on the sentencing of primary carers in the UK and internationally. Her research prompted the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights to hold an enquiry into the right to family life of children whose mother is imprisoned.

Shona has worked with judiciary across the UK, Europe and New Zealand to consider how adult sentencing practice should incorporate children’s rights. Her book ‘Maternal Sentencing and the Rights of the Child’ was published December 2019. She has produced films about the impact of custodial sentences on dependent children, and delivers training on the impact of parental imprisonment to legal professionals including judiciary in the UK and internationally. She has created programmes for BBC radio and contributes to media about the sentencing of women. Her most recent research was on the experience of children whose parents were in prison during Covid-10 lockdowns in 2020, and ‘Beyond the Barriers’ which explores access to family justice proceedings for women in prison in England and Wales. She was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Prize for Public Engagement by the University of Oxford and the Outstanding Early Career Impact Prize by the ESRC.

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