'Not another football hooligan story' ? learning from narratives of 'True crime' and desistance.

This article discusses the value of using cultural representations of crime and criminal justice to extend mainstream criminological knowledge on desistance from crime. The article uses biographical interviews to explore the ‘true crime’ life-story of former ‘football hooligan’, Cass Pennant, as (re)presented in his autobiography (CASS) and a film of the same name. It is argued that CASS is ‘not another football hooligan story’, but a multi-dimensional narrative about identity, belonging and redemption. The article argues that analyses of ‘true crime’ autobiographies and their film adaptations (especially when complimented with biographical research interviews) provide an alternative lens through which to understand the stages of a ‘criminal career’ and experiences of the criminal justice system. From analysis of auto/biographical narratives of ‘true crime’ we can learn about the motivations for involvement in deviant behaviour, trajectories of crime, reasons for recidivism, epiphanal moments and processes of desistance. Consequently, the ‘true crime’ narrative turn offers us a valuable means of understanding life-course desistance