The former suggests that once people have categorized events and persons, they organize past information and future perceptions consistently with these categories. For example, upon defining someone as a homosexual, people tend to search for and remember confirming cues. The final element of concern in this review of ethnomethodology and deviance is documentary interpretation. Appearances are treated as documents of something deeper, as expressions of underlying patterns or structures. Wiseman describes the manner in which such things as physical appearance, past performance, and social position are taken as indications of the kind of person a particular offender is and how his or her case should be handled.
Deviant intention is relevant here.
Intention is an important, though not specifically necessary, component in defining a person as deviant. If external forces are not apparent, people tend to attribute acts to choice and to impart motives, dispositions, and intentions to the actor. It must be understood that this process is not one-sided. People do not always readily succumb to the process of being identified as deviant. The construction of a deviant identity often involves negotiation and bargaining.