Many persistent thieves commit crime over several years and serve multiple jail or prison terms in the process. The policies directed against these career criminals rest on the belief that the threat of imprisonment will deter them and others from committing crime and that the reality of imprisonment for those who are imprisoned will deter them from recidivism. However, current deterrence-based policies and strategies take insufficient account of the factors and conditions that constrain these offenders' decisionmaking and substantially limit the rationality they use when making decisions. The research clearly reveals that persistent thieves focus mainly on profits and opportunities and not on risk. Offenders are also affected by moods, drugs, and co- offenders. However, the theory of crime as choice focuses almost exclusively on risk and ignores the obvious point that offenders' behavior might also be changed by increasing legitimate opportunities. Although legal threats have some deterrent effect, it is naive to tinker with them on the assumption that offenders are aware of and behaviorally sensitive to the changes. Notes and 44 references