Offender

Louisiana lawmakers are trying a new approach to keeping sex offenders and child predators from using social networks to reach new victims. State Rep. Jeff Thompson sponsored a bill -- recently signed into law -- that will require convicted sex offenders and child predators to disclose their crimes on social networks they use. But the measure will have little effect on users of the biggest social network in the U.S, Facebook. The site already prohibits registered sex offenders from using the social network.

Hands twisting nervously, Angel waited silently as the robed judicial officer scanned his file. In the last three years, the teenager had picked up two truancy tickets and one for "vandalism with a can of spray paint. " He ignored them. Then he turned 16 and learned he couldn't get a driver's license unless he showed up in a South Los Angeles courtroom and resolved what he feared could be hundreds of dollars in fines. Judicial referee Jack Furay, framed by a large court seal on the wall behind him, looked up and announced he didn't want Angel's mother paying for her son's transgressions.

The race to become the first new Los Angeles County district attorney in more than a decade has veered away from the traditional campaign script of getting tough on criminals, with candidates instead touting a more nuanced approach to public safety. In a conspicuous shift from previous district attorney elections, this campaign has been marked by serious discussions - and unusual agreement - on the need for crime prevention programs and rehabilitation of more nonviolent offenders rather than simply locking them up. Several candidates on Tuesday's ballot said voters have been clear that they want violent felons behind bars but believe the justice system can do more to prevent crime by ending the revolving door for low-level criminals and juveniles.

A Hollywood manager who specialized in representing young actors pleaded no contest Friday to two counts of child molestation and was released from county jail that afternoon. Martin Weiss, 47, faced eight felony counts of molesting an aspiring singer and musician he once represented. He entered a no-contest plea to two counts of committing lewd acts on a child under the age of 14, according to a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Leslie Dunn sentenced Weiss to one year in county jail and five years of probation.

-- The Times' Mike Bresnahan notes that the Lakers didn't talk to reporters Wednesday. That's perhaps a good sign considering Andrew Bynum previously gave the Nuggets bulletin board material by suggesting closeout games are easy. Bresnahan also reports that the NBA didn't have a problem with the Nuggets having a laptop with them during Game 5. -- The Times' Ben Bolch , however, says the Nuggets took offense that the Lakers' whiteboard after their Game 5 loss read, "Pack for 3 games.

A Hollywood casting director charged with failing to comply with sex offender registry laws testified Tuesday that his use of a professional alias was not an attempt to hide his criminal past. "I've spent so long trying to become a productive member of society there's nothing I want to do to go back to jail," Jason James Murphy told a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge during a hearing in Beverly Hills to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to proceed to trial.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge dismissed the criminal case against a Hollywood casting director accused of concealing his sex offender status with an alias Wednesday, saying the man had consistently provided his real name, driver's license and passport to the movie studios that employed him. "There is no dispute that every studio … was aware of his true and legal name," Judge Elden Fox said, throwing out the sole charge against Jason...

Susan Kang Schroeder ticked off the facts of the case: A man bought a 5-year-old girl from Vietnam, used her as a sex slave for more than a decade and forced her to invite over friends whom he molested during sleepovers. "She was made to do every possible sex act," Schroeder said with a bluntness she honed as a prosecutor. But this wasn't a jury. It was the seven members of the Huntington Beach City Council. And if the aim of the Orange County district attorney's chief of staff was to grab their attention with the story of one of the county's most notorious pedophiles, it worked.

Homeless convicts on probation or parole are now eligible for government-subsidized housing under a new housing plan approved by Los Angeles County supervisors. The change, which officials said was intended to help reduce chronic homelessness, would give some ex-prisoners priority over thousands of non-offenders who are awaiting government housing assistance, officials said. "We're doing this to try to get homeless off the street," said Emilio Salas, the Los Angeles County housing authority's deputy executive director.

CANON CITY, Colo. — Sometimes if you build it, they don't come. When construction was first planned in 2003 for a $184-million high-security facility within the Colorado prison complex in Canon City, the number of inmates being locked up in the state was increasing at what officials considered an alarming rate. But something happened between the first shovelful of dirt in 2007 and the final paintbrush stroke in 2010: The Colorado prison population started decreasing, first a little and then a lot. So much, in fact, that officials announced in March that the new facility — open just 18 months and two-thirds empty — would close next year.