After discussing distinctions between normative and bounded rationality, the author reports on his interviews with 45 imprisoned burglars and 69 imprisoned robbers about their techniques of victim/target selection and rejection. The results document a subterranean knowledge market where brokers peddle information about likely opportunities to supplement data already gathered by the criminal through family, work, and social networks. The paper examines the criminals' information-processing strategies. A discussion of attitudes to risk, the importance of previous experience, and the roles of luck and fatalism provide insights to how criminals handle sudden hazards during commission of the crime. Slightly over half the burglars and robbers in this sample undertook some degree of planning, but robbers claimed significantly more determination than burglars to carry out a particular crime. 13 references.