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. Information is selectively presented, justifications and excuses are presented and evaluated.
Excuses are verbalizations which mitigate responsibility for an action.
For example, an individual may explain his or her wayward action as a manifestation of an uncontrolled biological drive, as an unintended and unforeseen accident, or as a result of misinformation. Audiences weigh and analyze these excuses and justifications as part of the interpretive processes described above. They become part of the indexical reality of the situation and reflexively shape the definition we apply to make sense of other people and their behavior. This process often takes place within the confines of organizations created to identify and control deviant behavior. The details and intricacies of individual cases must be ignored if they are to fit into organizational categories and routines.