Criminal Justice Webinar Series

Criminal Justice Webinar Series

Session One: ‘Mate, you gone legit?’ – Tension and loss in status and desistance

16th June 2026,
12.30pm – 1.30pm

University Centre St Helens’ Criminal Justice Webinar Series, brings together leading researchers and authors of recent works with our FdA Criminal Justice students and the wider public to explore fresh, relevant, and impactful theories and work shaping the field today.

Session One: ‘Mate, you gone legit?’ – Tension and loss in status and desistance

Andrew (Andi) Brierley

Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Investigation and Policing at Leeds Trinity University

Max Dennehy

PhD Student of the Department of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of Strathclyde

Host: Stephanie Young Adika

Lecturer in Criminal Justice

For our first session, we are delighted to be in conversation with Max Dennehy and Andi Brierley, co-authors of ‘Mate, you gone legit?’: Tension and loss in status and desistance, featured in The British Journal of Criminology.

Drawing on lived experience, frontline practice, and academic research, Max and Andi explore the material, symbolic and social challenges faced by people trying to build new lives beyond offending.

Whether you work in criminal justice, study it, or simply care about the realities behind the headlines, this session offers a rare chance to hear directly from two experts who bridge experience and evidence.

Join us to explore status, identity, and the costs of leaving crime behind.