A look at noteworthy addresses in the Southland.

Judge Stanley Sporkin of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia spoke Tuesday at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles. From his address: Defendant Compensation “What is society’s obligation to individuals who have been held in pretrial custody for long periods of time and are either acquitted after a trial on the merits or are not prosecuted because the government, in its final assessment of the case . . . concludes there is no credible case against the individual? What I believe must be questioned is why do we not in some manner compensate those individuals for the time they have been taken out of society without having been convicted of any crime. The same observations could be made with respect to (those) who have had their conviction overturned on appeal and have been set free, but only after having served a prison term, sometimes many years in duration. . . . What is urgently needed is a provision that would compensate these (persons) for the loss of their liberty. . . . By providing some monetary compensation, the pain of the experience would be eased somewhat and the individual would at least believe that society has shown some sensitivity for its egregious mistake.”

Mandatory Sentences for Drug Use “We have so filled our jails with low-level criminal violators that at some point society is going to balk at picking up the costs of their confinement, which can amount to $20,000 a year or more, and insist that this nation’s executive and legislative leaders open the jails and set them free. . . . Reform will come only if the citizenry at large speaks out.”

Looking Ahead Monday: Stanford professor Terry Moe, a school choice proponent, 6:45 p.m., Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum, Claremont McKenna College, 385 E. 8th St., Claremont. Free, open to the public.

Tuesday: Bernard Kinsey, co-chairman, Rebuild L.A., on “Changing the Paradigm for Revitalizing Our Inner Cities,” noon, Biltmore Hotel. Sponsored by Town Hall. Call 213-628-8141.

Announcements concerning prominent speakers in Los Angeles should be sent to Speaking Up, c/o Times researcher Nona Yates, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Ca., 90053