School of Law

Dr Jay Gormley

  • Senior Lecturer (School of Law)

Biography

Dr Jay Gormley is a Senior Lecturer in Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Glasgow. He is a member of the Scottish Sentencing Council, an adviser to the Sentencing Academy, and a Member of Howard League Scotland. 

He is an experienced empirical researcher and has worked with a wide range of criminal justice stakeholders. He has published numerous journals and book chapters on the topic of sentencing and his work has also been used to evaluate critical aspects of sentencing, data, and case proceedings.

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2016
Number of items: 26.

2026

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (Ed.) (2026) The Tenth Anniversary of the Scottish Sentencing Council. Edinburgh Law Review. 30(2) [Edited Journal]

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2026) Sentencing in Scotland 2025. Edinburgh Law Review, 30(2), pp. 190-197. (doi: 10.3366/elr.2026.1018)

Tata, Cyrus, Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, Hamilton, Melissa and Pina-Sánchez, Jose (2026) Exploring Unwarranted Disparities in Sentencing in Scotland. Documentation. Scottish Sentencing Council.

Tata, Cyrus and Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2026) Sentencing councils need high quality data: peril and potential in the second decade of the Scottish Sentencing Council. Edinburgh Law Review, 30(2), pp. 206-216. (doi: 10.3366/elr.2026.1020)

2025

McPherson, Rachel and Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2025) The sentencing of offences involving modern slavery and human trafficking in Scotland: Literature review. Project Report. Scottish Sentencing Council.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Hamilton, Melissa (2025) Alcohol Treatment Requirement (ATR): Peer-reviewed research on the effectiveness and impact of sentences, orders, and requirements. Other. Sentencing Hub.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2025) The gravest inefficiency of plea bargaining and the consequences for rehabilitation and reintegration. Journal of Law and Society, 52(2), pp. 249-268. (doi: 10.1111/jols.12531)

2024

McPherson, Rachel, Burgess, Nicholas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2325-376X and Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2024) The sentencing of offences involving stalking in Scotland. Literature review. Documentation. Scottish Sentencing Council, Edinburgh.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and McPherson, Rachel (2024) Rape Sentencing Guideline. Non-standard consultation response. Documentation. Scottish Sentencing Council.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Tata, Cyrus (2024) Guilty pleas, sentencing and sentence ‘discounting’: who is ‘sentence discounting’ really for? In: Langer, Máximo, Price, David and Price, Dallas (eds.) Research Handbook on Plea Bargaining and Criminal Justice. Series: Research Handbooks on Criminal Law and Justice. Edward Elgar. ISBN 9781802206661 (In Press)

2023

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, O'Malley, Tom, Roberts, Julian, Spohn, Cassia and Tata, Cyrus (2023) Assessing Methodological Approaches to Sentencing Data and Analysis: Final Report. Other. Sentencing Guidelines and Information Committee, Judicial Council of Ireland, Ireland.

2022

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2022) Fines: A review of the sanction, its use and operation, and research evidence. Other. Sentencing Academy.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, Hamilton, Melissa and Belton, Ian (2022) The Effectiveness of Sentencing Options on Reoffending. Other. Sentencing Council of England and Wales.

McPherson, Rachel, Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Wheate, Rhonda (2022) Sentencing domestic abuse in Scotland. [Website]

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2022) The inefficiency of plea bargaining. Journal of Law and Society, 49(2), pp. 277-293. (doi: 10.1111/jols.12360)

McPherson, Rachel, Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Wheate, Rhonda (2022) The sentencing of offences involving domestic abuse in Scotland. Documentation. Scottish Sentencing Council, Edinburgh.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, Roberts, Julian, Pina- Sánchez, Jose, Tata, Cyrus and Veiga, Ana (2022) The Methodological Challenges of Comparative Sentencing Research. Other. Scottish Sentencing Council.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, O'Malley, Thomas, Roberts, Julian, Spohn, Cassia and Tata, Cyrus (2022) Assessing Methodological Approaches to Sentencing Data and Analysis: Report 1: Ireland. Technical Report. Sentencing Guidelines and Information Committee of the Judicial Council.

2021

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Tata, Cyrus (2021) Remorse and sentencing in a world of plea bargaining. In: Tudor, Steven, Weisman, Richard and Rossmanith, Kate (eds.) Remorse and Criminal Justice: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives. Routledge. ISBN 9781032104768 (doi: 10.4324/9780429001062-4)

McPherson, Rachel, Burgess, Nicholas, Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Tata, Cyrus (2021) What do we know about sentencing sexual offences in Scotland? [Website]

McPherson, Rachel, Burgess, Nick ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2325-376X, Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Tata, Cyrus (2021) Sexual offences involving rape literature review. Documentation. Scottish Sentencing Council, Edinburgh.

McPherson, Rachel, Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, Burgess, Nicholas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2325-376X and Tata, Cyrus (2021) Sexual offences involving sexual assault literature review. Documentation. Scottish Sentencing Council, Edinburgh.

2020

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, Roberts, Julian V., Bild, Jonathan and Harris, Lyndon (2020) Sentence Reductions for Guilty Pleas: A review of policy, practice and research. Technical Report. Sentencing Academy.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, McPherson, Rachel and Tata, Cyrus (2020) Sentence Discounting: Sentencing and Plea Decision-Making. Documentation. Sentencing Council, Edinburgh.

2019

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Tata, Cyrus (2019) To plead? or not to plead? 'Guilty' is the question. Re-thinking plea decision-making in Anglo-American countries. In: Spohn, Cassia and Brennan, Pauline (eds.) Handbook on Sentencing Policies and Practices in the 21st Century. Routledge. ISBN 9780367136499 (doi: 10.4324/9780429027765-11)

2016

Tata, Cyrus and Gormley, Jay M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2016) Sentencing and plea bargaining: guilty pleas versus trial verdicts. In: Oxford Handbook Topics in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199935383 (doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935383.013.40)

This list was generated on Mon Sep 28 11:26:21 2026 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Book Sections | Edited Journals | Research Reports or Papers | Website
Number of items: 26.

Articles

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2026) Sentencing in Scotland 2025. Edinburgh Law Review, 30(2), pp. 190-197. (doi: 10.3366/elr.2026.1018)

Tata, Cyrus and Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2026) Sentencing councils need high quality data: peril and potential in the second decade of the Scottish Sentencing Council. Edinburgh Law Review, 30(2), pp. 206-216. (doi: 10.3366/elr.2026.1020)

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2025) The gravest inefficiency of plea bargaining and the consequences for rehabilitation and reintegration. Journal of Law and Society, 52(2), pp. 249-268. (doi: 10.1111/jols.12531)

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2022) The inefficiency of plea bargaining. Journal of Law and Society, 49(2), pp. 277-293. (doi: 10.1111/jols.12360)

Book Sections

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Tata, Cyrus (2024) Guilty pleas, sentencing and sentence ‘discounting’: who is ‘sentence discounting’ really for? In: Langer, Máximo, Price, David and Price, Dallas (eds.) Research Handbook on Plea Bargaining and Criminal Justice. Series: Research Handbooks on Criminal Law and Justice. Edward Elgar. ISBN 9781802206661 (In Press)

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Tata, Cyrus (2021) Remorse and sentencing in a world of plea bargaining. In: Tudor, Steven, Weisman, Richard and Rossmanith, Kate (eds.) Remorse and Criminal Justice: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives. Routledge. ISBN 9781032104768 (doi: 10.4324/9780429001062-4)

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Tata, Cyrus (2019) To plead? or not to plead? 'Guilty' is the question. Re-thinking plea decision-making in Anglo-American countries. In: Spohn, Cassia and Brennan, Pauline (eds.) Handbook on Sentencing Policies and Practices in the 21st Century. Routledge. ISBN 9780367136499 (doi: 10.4324/9780429027765-11)

Tata, Cyrus and Gormley, Jay M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2016) Sentencing and plea bargaining: guilty pleas versus trial verdicts. In: Oxford Handbook Topics in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199935383 (doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935383.013.40)

Edited Journals

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (Ed.) (2026) The Tenth Anniversary of the Scottish Sentencing Council. Edinburgh Law Review. 30(2) [Edited Journal]

Research Reports or Papers

Tata, Cyrus, Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, Hamilton, Melissa and Pina-Sánchez, Jose (2026) Exploring Unwarranted Disparities in Sentencing in Scotland. Documentation. Scottish Sentencing Council.

McPherson, Rachel and Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2025) The sentencing of offences involving modern slavery and human trafficking in Scotland: Literature review. Project Report. Scottish Sentencing Council.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Hamilton, Melissa (2025) Alcohol Treatment Requirement (ATR): Peer-reviewed research on the effectiveness and impact of sentences, orders, and requirements. Other. Sentencing Hub.

McPherson, Rachel, Burgess, Nicholas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2325-376X and Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2024) The sentencing of offences involving stalking in Scotland. Literature review. Documentation. Scottish Sentencing Council, Edinburgh.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and McPherson, Rachel (2024) Rape Sentencing Guideline. Non-standard consultation response. Documentation. Scottish Sentencing Council.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, O'Malley, Tom, Roberts, Julian, Spohn, Cassia and Tata, Cyrus (2023) Assessing Methodological Approaches to Sentencing Data and Analysis: Final Report. Other. Sentencing Guidelines and Information Committee, Judicial Council of Ireland, Ireland.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X (2022) Fines: A review of the sanction, its use and operation, and research evidence. Other. Sentencing Academy.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, Hamilton, Melissa and Belton, Ian (2022) The Effectiveness of Sentencing Options on Reoffending. Other. Sentencing Council of England and Wales.

McPherson, Rachel, Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Wheate, Rhonda (2022) The sentencing of offences involving domestic abuse in Scotland. Documentation. Scottish Sentencing Council, Edinburgh.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, Roberts, Julian, Pina- Sánchez, Jose, Tata, Cyrus and Veiga, Ana (2022) The Methodological Challenges of Comparative Sentencing Research. Other. Scottish Sentencing Council.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, O'Malley, Thomas, Roberts, Julian, Spohn, Cassia and Tata, Cyrus (2022) Assessing Methodological Approaches to Sentencing Data and Analysis: Report 1: Ireland. Technical Report. Sentencing Guidelines and Information Committee of the Judicial Council.

McPherson, Rachel, Burgess, Nick ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2325-376X, Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Tata, Cyrus (2021) Sexual offences involving rape literature review. Documentation. Scottish Sentencing Council, Edinburgh.

McPherson, Rachel, Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, Burgess, Nicholas ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2325-376X and Tata, Cyrus (2021) Sexual offences involving sexual assault literature review. Documentation. Scottish Sentencing Council, Edinburgh.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, Roberts, Julian V., Bild, Jonathan and Harris, Lyndon (2020) Sentence Reductions for Guilty Pleas: A review of policy, practice and research. Technical Report. Sentencing Academy.

Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X, McPherson, Rachel and Tata, Cyrus (2020) Sentence Discounting: Sentencing and Plea Decision-Making. Documentation. Sentencing Council, Edinburgh.

Website

McPherson, Rachel, Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Wheate, Rhonda (2022) Sentencing domestic abuse in Scotland. [Website]

McPherson, Rachel, Burgess, Nicholas, Gormley, Jay ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2883-503X and Tata, Cyrus (2021) What do we know about sentencing sexual offences in Scotland? [Website]

This list was generated on Mon Sep 28 11:26:21 2026 BST.