“The Others”: Sex Offenders’ Social Identities in Probation Approved Premises

Through reporting on an ethnographic study of a Probation Approved Premises, this article explores the informal social structures which shape life for sex offenders in hostels, and the significance of these in terms of social exclusion, support and the work of the institution. The findings illustrate how the practice of the hostel both demonises and reinforces the personal and social identity constructs of residents convicted of sexual offences to accord with the dominant discourse of ‘sex offender’. Of note, the article identifies how informal structural and cultural processes define sex offender residents as essentially different from other people.