Cullen and Agnew (2011) stated that deterrence occurs when a person refrains from committing a criminal act because the threat of punishment is greater than the chances of obtaining a reward . The typical, average, law-abiding, rational-thinking, responsible American does not commit crimes. For what? Because it is against the law and there is a punishment that, for most people, far exceeds the reward they will receive for committing the crime. For most people, the threat of punishment or the possibility of being arrested for a crime is enough to deter criminal activity. Additionally, for Americans who commit crimes, the same question could be asked. For what? This question is more difficult to answer because of the varying explanations for why people commit crimes. Unfortunately, deterrence and rational choice theories do not answer this question very effectively, other than proposing the belief that for some people, the reward for crime far outweighs the chance of their being caught. and then punished for the crime. This fundamental decision-making between risk and reward is at the heart of human behavior and forms the basis of what deterrence and rational choice theories believe. For the purposes of this article, I will discuss the origins of deterrence and rational choice theories of crime. I will explain why some criminologists support deterrence and rational choice theories as important explanations for crime. Additionally, I will discuss key problems with the theory that limit its effectiveness in criminology and in understanding the causes of crime. According to Cullen and Agnew (2011), theories of deterrence and rational choice of crimes originate from ideas generated by Cesare B. ..... middle of article ......st to Present, edited by Cullen , TF, Agnew, R. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Cullen, TF, Agnew, R. Criminological Theory: Past to Present. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Intro, Chapters 1, 3, 4) Feldmeyer, B. Criminology Seminar. Lecture Notes 02/19/2014.Sherman, WL, Smith, AD, Schmidt, DJ, Rogan, PD (1992) Crime, punishment, and the issue of compliance: legal and informal control of domestic violence. American Sociological Review 57, 680-690. Stafford, M., Warr, M. “Re-conceptualizing deterrence theory”. Pp.394-399 in CriminologicalTheory: Past to Present, edited by Cullen, TF, Agnew, R. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Wright, TR (1997) Armed robbers in action: heists and street culture. Chapter 35 (pp.443453) Reviving Classical Theory: Theories of Deterrence and Rational Choice: Northeastern University Press