Uncertainty and heuristics in offender decision-making: Deviations from rational choice

•Rational choice theory does not adequately explain all criminal decision-making.•Cognitive biases and heuristics influence perceptions and logic.•Offenders often follow their intuition when selecting targets and assessing risk.•Many drug and alcohol abusers hold distorted perceptions of effort, risk, and reward.•Dual motivations of needs and wants create a nonlinear value-utility relationship.