Like many States, Texas relies on a risk assessment analysis when deciding to release a particular inmate to parole. Although the State has broadly described the concepts and factors it relies on in creating its Risk Assessment Number, it keeps the actual methodologies used in a “Black Box” that leaves inmates, their families, and parole lawyers in the dark about how a potential parolee actually gets assessed and categorized.

Here’s a basic overview of the process:

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) creates its particular risk assessment by relying on two primary groups of personal data:

Most people don’t expect to get arrested. When it happens, a range of emotions can hit you, from anger, to disbelief, to pure panic. But after the initial shock wears off, you’ll start to think about the best way to protect yourself. In trying to figure out how to react to your new reality, you probably won’t be relying on direct experience (unless you’re used to getting arrested all the time!). Instead, you’ll rely on what you consider common knowledge of how the criminal justice system works. But be careful, because many of the “truths” about how the system works are in fact nothing but myths. Here’s five “Criminal Justice Myths” that you should stop believing in:

1. If the Officer doesn’t read my Miranda Rights, my case will get dismissed.

“Mirands Warnings” are a list of rights that you’ve heard on television a million times: the right to remain silent, the right to talk to an attorney, and the right to know that anything you say can and will be used against you in Court. I’m sure you have a favorite Miranda scene in a Movie. Mine is from the “Dragnet” remake with Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd.