California has its fair share of vicious dog attacks, with some incidents claiming the lives of innocent victims.

How have state and local lawmakers attempted to take a bite out of the problem? Here are three dangerous dog laws that all Los Angeles-area dog owners should be aware of:

Parents, it seems, are always two steps behind kids and their vast knowledge of the Interwebs and those computery machine things they're always looking at.

While you may not be able to tell the difference between pins, pokes, tweets, and diggs, your children probably do. And some of them are using your ignorance to do illegal things behind your back.

As an early Mother's Day gift to all the Luddite moms out there, here are five things that tech-savvy kids are getting in trouble for, that you may not even know about:

In an reported “random act” of vandalism, a rash of tire slashings occurred in northwest Glendale on luxury cars and SUVs. The vandalized high-end cars — including BMWs, Lexuses, Cadillacs, Audis, Mercedes-Benzes, and Porsches — were parked in home driveways and on dimly lighted streets, otherwise known as a vandal’s paradise. In a Smokey Bear teachable moment, the police reminded people to always take precautions to protect your car from vandalism and break-ins.

Here are five easy ways to help protect your car from vandalism or a break-in:

Due to their powerful sense of smell and extensive training, drug-sniffing police dogs can smell narcotics from a mile away (figuratively speaking). The invasive nature of their use has raised interesting questions about the right to privacy.

So when and where can drug-sniffing dogs be used? A few recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court have shed light on the subject. Below, you'll find an explanation of those decisions and how they apply to you.

If you've been charged with a crime, it may seem like the end of the world. However, you should know that you are innocent until proven guilty and many people have been charged with crimes only to beat the charges with the help of an experienced Los Angeles criminal defense attorney.

There are many criminal defense attorneys to choose from. And in a major metropolitan area, you may literally be flooded with options.

Before jumping in and hiring an attorney, there are some steps you may want to take. These steps can help you understand your charges better and also give you an idea what to ask a prospective lawyer:

A criminal record isn't exactly a hot accessory, especially when it comes to getting a job or an apartment. That record will follow you unless you can get rid of it. You know, by expunging it.

Expungement can clear your criminal record and in many ways, the conviction disappears. It allows you to put the past behind you and not have to keep dragging it around. While your court file remains public record, once it's expunged you don't have to disclose your conviction any longer.

But California is very specific about which crimes can be expunged and under what circumstances. To do it, you have to qualify.

The law punishes almost every incident in which one person kills another, whether it's intentional, reckless, or even unintended. Legally speaking, that means murder, manslaughter, and felony murder.

The first two get a lot of press but the last one doesn't, in part because many jurisdictions have gotten rid of felony murder. But not California.

Felony murder was originally a common law idea, but it's since been signed into official law. In the Golden State, it's a form of first-degree murder. But that doesn't explain what felony murder actually is.

In California, like in most states, there is first degree murder and second degree murder. While they both involve an intentional killing, one is more serious than the other, especially when it comes to sentencing.

To put it in context, California groups all crimes that involve taking a human life under the title of homicide.

Within that category is both manslaughter and murder, which can both be subdivided into several categories. Focusing on murder, the difference between first and second degree rests primarily on one thing: intent.

Whether it's from personal experience or too many reruns of "Law and Order," most people know that you have the right to an attorney in a criminal trial. But Gideon often doesn't get the credit for securing that right for you.

By Gideon, we mean Clarence Earl Gideon -- the man behind Gideon v. Wainwright, a Supreme Court case that marks its 50th anniversary next month.

You may never have heard of the case, but that doesn't make it any less important. Not only did it ensure your right to an attorney, it defined what that means.

California's criminal code is long and complicated, with significant sections dedicated to property crimes.

Most of these offenses are lumped under "theft," but actually, there's no such offense as plain-old "theft" in the California Penal Code. Theft is the category name for property crimes, and it contains a list of offenses.

The legal differences between theft crimes are important because they affect how serious the sentence for each crime can be. So, what are the differences?