Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons
https://pardonned.comInspired by the videos of Liz Oyer, I wanted to be able to verify her claims and just look up all the pardons more easily.Tech Stack: Playwright - to sccrape the DOJ website SQLite - local database Astro 6 - Build out a static website from the sqlite dbAll code is open source and available on Github.
FL score
out of 100
Verdict
high confidence
Competition
5
competitors found, emerging market, funded players
Trend
No signal yet
A searchable database of US pardons that fills a significant data gap for journalists, legal professionals, and researchers.
The pain
The gap
Build angle
Strengths
- Addresses a clear and deeply felt pain point (lack of centralized, comprehensive data).
- Significant whitespace in the market for a data product, not just legal services.
- Clear target audience (journalists, legal professionals) with an identifiable willingness to pay.
- Manageable technical scope for an MVP by a solo builder.
- Skills and data infrastructure built are highly leverageable for future projects.
- Strong demand for transparency and data access aligns with market trends.
Risks
- Ongoing data acquisition and maintenance, especially across 50 states + federal, can be a significant and continuous effort.
- Legal complexities or restrictions around scraping certain types of government data.
- Monetization signals, while strong for the legal tech market, need direct validation for this specific data product.
- Scaling distribution to reach all potential niche users.
Next steps
- Prioritize scraping and launching a robust federal pardon database MVP.
- Conduct targeted outreach to journalists and legal researchers to validate pricing and specific feature priorities beyond basic search.
- Explore automated scraping pipelines and potential API access from government sources (if available) to mitigate ongoing manual effort.
- Investigate legal counsel regarding data scraping and usage rights for public records to ensure compliance.
Fly Labs Method
Is the pain real, is there a gap, is it the right time, can one person build it.
- Problem clarity
- 25
- Solution gap
- 22
- Willingness to pay
- 18
- Buildability
- 17
A highly promising idea for a solo builder, addressing a clear, specific, and severe pain point in the legal research space with a strong market gap and good buildability.
Value Equation
Dream outcome and how likely it feels, against the time and effort it costs.
This idea has strong potential due to clear pain, a valuable solution, and a growing legal tech market, though distribution and continuous data maintenance pose challenges.
One-Person Business
Curiosity pull, identity fit, and a path from free value to paid for a solo creator.
A promising niche idea with a clear problem and good monetization potential for a solo builder, leveraging transferable skills and data asset.
Viral Frameworks
Hook strength, shareability, and how cheaply it can be tested.
A solid micro-SaaS candidate with a clear value proposition for a specific, reachable audience and a viable subscription business model.
Builder Lens
Evidence the problem exists, timing, defensibility, and a model that fits on a napkin.
A strong YC candidate with clear user pain, a well-defined target, and a narrow buildable wedge, addressing a growing need for data transparency.
Why this verdict
Five lenses, one composite. How scoring works
The angle
This weekend
- Prioritize scraping and launching a robust federal pardon database MVP.
- Conduct targeted outreach to journalists and legal researchers to validate pricing and specific feature priorities beyond basic search.
- Explore automated scraping pipelines and potential API access from government sources (if available) to mitigate ongoing manual effort.
- Investigate legal counsel regarding data scraping and usage rights for public records to ensure compliance.
Who is already there, emerging market
The official US Department of Justice website allows searching for federal clemency cases by name, case number, or BOP register number.
Pricing: Free
- Clemency.comVisit
A law firm (Brandon Sample PLC) offering legal assistance for state and federal clemency, pardon, commutation, and amnesty petitions.
Pricing: Requires attorney consultation for pricing, not publicly available.
- Record Eraser (PA Pardon Services)Visit
Helps individuals clear Pennsylvania criminal records through pardons, expungements, and the Clean Slate program.
Pricing: Offers free attorney evaluations, flat-rate fees, and flexible payment plans (actual numbers not specified on site).
- PardonMePA.org (Pennsylvania Association of Pardon Projects)Visit
Connects individuals with local Pardon Projects and volunteers to assist with Pennsylvania pardon applications.
Pricing: Information and assistance are likely free through their associated projects, but specific legal services may have costs.
Provides a searchable docket for pardon and parole cases in Oklahoma by month, year, last name, and county.
Pricing: Free
What they charge
Recent news
- Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons
Hacker News, April 11 2026
- AI Catapulted Legal Tech Funding To New Heights In 2025
Reddit (r/legaltech), January 08 2026
- 2025 sparked a legal tech funding frenzy. Here were some of the notable deals.
Business Insider, December 01 2025
- AI Makes Inroads in Legal Industry as Funding Tops $2.4 Billion
PYMNTS.com, October 24 2025
- Legal Tech Investment Hits All-Time High With Filevine Funding
Crunchbase News, September 23 2025
Market signals
The legal technology market is large and experiencing significant growth, projected to reach between $63.59 billion by 2032 and $83.8 billion by 2035, with a CAGR of around 9.4% to 10.4%. North America holds a substantial share of this market, driven by investments in AI and automation. Recent funding rounds in the broader legal tech space, particularly for AI-driven solutions, have been substantial, with over $2.4 billion in 2025, indicating a strong investor interest in technologies that improve efficiency and automate legal processes. However, standalone AI legal research tools may struggle without integration into existing workflows.
What frustrates people
- Difficulty in accessing comprehensive historical pardon data, especially for older cases not available through online government databases.
- Limited search functionality on official government websites, often requiring specific case numbers or exact names.
- Lack of a centralized, easily searchable database for all federal and state pardons across the US.
- The process for obtaining a pardon is complex and requires legal expertise, leading to the need for costly legal services.
- Frustration with the lack of transparency in the pardon process and the rationale behind certain pardon decisions.
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