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Dr Eoin Guilfoyle
Lecturer in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice

Summary

Eoin joined Brunel Law School in June 2022 as a Lecturer in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice. Prior to this, he worked as a Teaching Associate in Law at the University of Bristol Law School (2019-2022).

Eoin graduated with a PhD in Law from the University of Limerick in 2019. He also holds an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Edinburgh and an LLB in Law from Griffith College Cork.  Eoin’s Research interests lie primarily in sentencing law and community sanctions. His PhD, which was funded by the Irish Research Council, involved an extensive examination of the Irish Community Service Order.

Eoin has published peer-reviewed articles in journals such as the Irish Criminal Law Journal, the Irish Probation Journal and the Common Law World Review. He has written a commissioned report for the Sentencing Academy on the Community Order (England and Wales) and has recently completed a study evaluating community service policies, practices and structures in Ireland (funded by the Irish Probation Service). Eoin was a Co-Investigator on the project along with Dr Louise Kennefick (Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Glasgow). He has presented at a wide range of national and international academic conferences. He has also been invited to present his research on the Community Service Order at a sentencing seminar for District Court Judges in Ireland, his research on sentencing guidelines to the newly formed Irish Sentencing Guidelines and Information Committee and has given expert evidence to the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee as part of their Inquiry into Community Sentences (2023). 

Prior to beginning his career in academia, Eoin held two research positions. The first with the Irish Sentencing Information System, a body set up by the Judiciary to collect and analyse sentencing data and the second with the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, a body set up by the Irish Government to conduct an extensive review of policing in Ireland and to make recommendations for the future of policing in the country.

Eoin was also a certified mediator and a member of the Mediators’ Institute of Ireland from 2014 to 2019.

Current research projects

August 2022 to July 2024: Eoin is currently a Co-Investigator on a research project titled: Exploring the Nature of Ethnic Disparities in Sentencing through Causal Inference. The project is funded by the ESRC Secondary Data Initiative and will be led by Dr Jose Pina-Sánchez, Associate Professor of Quantitative Criminology (University of Leeds). The project will use a new methodological framework that will test whether ethnic disparities in criminal sentences represent evidence of discrimination. 

Qualifications

PhD in Law (University of Limerick); MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice (University of Edinburgh); LLB in Law (Griffith College); Certified Mediator (Mediators' Institute of Ireland)

Newest selected publications

Guilfoyle, E. and Kennefick, L. (2023) 'A Tripartite Strategy for Unpaid Work in the Community'. Place of publication: HM Inspectorate of Probation. Available at: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/07/Academic-Insights-Guilfoyle-and-Kennefick-Jul-23-for-design-20.07.2023.pdf.

Report

Pina-Sánchez, J., Geneletti, S., Veiga, A., Morales, A. and Guilfoyle, E. (2023) 'Can ethnic disparities in sentencing be taken as evidence of judicial discrimination?'. Journal of Legal Research Methodology, 3 (1). ISSN: 2752-3403 Open Access Link

Journal article

Kennefick, L. and Guilfoyle, E. (2022) 'An Evidence Review of Community Service Policy, Practice and Structure'. Place of publication: Probation Service. Available at: http://www.probation.ie/EN/PB//WebPages/WP22000035.Open Access Link

Report

Guilfoyle, E. (2021) 'The Community Order: A Review of the Sanction, Its Use and Operation and Research Evidence'. Place of publication: Sentencing Academy. Available at: https://www.sentencingacademy.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Community-Orders-3.pdf.

Report

Guilfoyle, E. and Marder, ID. (2020) 'Using data to design and monitor sentencing guidelines: The case of Ireland'. Common Law World Review, 50 (2-3). pp. 103 - 119. ISSN: 1473-7795 Open Access Link

Journal article
More publications(11)
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