GRAND PRAIRIE - Society should get smart on crime instead of taking the so-called tough approach, which merely fills prisons with nonviolent offenders.

That was the message from panelists Saturday at a Criminal Justice Reform town meeting sponsored by the League of United Latin American Citizens. Most of the three dozen residents in the audience at the Ruthe Jackson Center agreed.

The three-hour session was designed to find ways to help unite families, save taxpayers' money and improve community safety, said Ann Del Llano, representing the American Civil Liberties Union. In addition to the panel, state Rep. Ray Allen, R-Grand Prairie, and his opponent, Democrat Katy Hubener, addressed residents.

"Let's put people that we are afraid of in jail, not the ones that we are mad it," Allen said.

Del Llano and LULAC executive Ana Yanez-Correa dispelled what they called the top eight myths of the criminal justice system, including the belief that "tough on crime" policies are the most effective way to reduce crime, they said.

Such policies are overcrowding prisons with nonviolent drug offenders and making life after their release very difficult, Yanez-Correa said. Convicted felons have trouble finding jobs and getting housing.

Loosely written laws make the justice system unfair, she said.

"You can be a lawyer with a felony but not a paralegal, and you can be a doctor with a felony but not a nurse," Yanez-Correa said.

Audience members appeared stunned as panelists reeled off statistics: 70 percent of prisoners are nonviolent offenders; one in every 11 Texans is already a felon.

Instead, drug offenders should be convicted of misdemeanors and be rehabilitated after they serve their time, Yanez-Correa said.

Civil rights for minorities were also a topic of discussion.

Jesus Mejia, who was one of several dozen falsely accused of dealing drugs by Dallas police, attended the town meeting. He was in jail for five months before he was freed. Mejia said he was targeted because of his ethnicity and because he doesn't speak English well.

"I am here to learn my rights because I was in jail for being wrongly accused of a crime and all I got was an apology," he said in Spanish. "I was able to get a lawyer but others weren't so lucky."

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