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Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

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Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#101

Post by elAhmo »

lateforwork wrote: post #92
siliconc0w wrote: post #38

We should at least ban the "preemptive" pardon if not all pardons. Pardon means forgiveness for a specific convicted crime, not a means to grant blanket immunity.

There are two types here: (1) Pardons for crimes not yet committed. (2) Pardons for crimes committed, but not yet convicted. The first type will allow the pardoned to commit a crime in the future for free, which obviously should not be allowed. The second should be allowed if we have this pardon system at all. The second type became a political necessity, for example to protect Liz Cheney from a vengeful administrati…

The notion itself that someone needs to be protected by a 'vengeful administration', while judicial system should be not politically affiliated is telling how broken the whole separation of powers is. Everyone who is a ruling party puts candidates they know aligned with their views, resulting in 'just wait until my turn comes and I will do as much as damage as possible' cycle.

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#103

Post by [deleted] »

salawat wrote: post #96
andrewstuart wrote: post #27

Pardon power can serve no reasonable goal in a functioning democracy except to subvert justice.

Justice is a moving target mate. Should people who had a few pounds of reefer still be serving 30 year sentences? 90's adults would probably say yes. Today? Not so much. Part of being human is being open to the fact you were wrong. The Pardon is the release valve that lets the Chief Executive remove the targets the System has painted on people's backs in response to a clear shift in public conscience. The public in r…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#104

Post by giancarlostoro »

siliconc0w wrote: post #38

We should at least ban the "preemptive" pardon if not all pardons. Pardon means forgiveness for a specific convicted crime, not a means to grant blanket immunity.

I agree. I dont care if “my guy” or “your guy” does it, it should not be allowed.

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#105

Post by vidluther »

lateforwork wrote: post #85

Are you able to track repeat pardons of the same offender? If not you have a bug. https://pardonned.com/pardon/details/adriana-isabel-camberos... Adriana Camberos was in fact pardoned twice. In 2021, convicted fraudster Adriana Camberos was freed from prison when President Trump commuted her sentence. Rather than taking advantage of that second chance, Ms. Camberos returned to crime. She was convicted again in 2024 i…

Interesting story, but I do not see her name in the list of pardons and commutations on the source website twice.

https://www.justice.gov/pardon/commutations-granted-presiden...

She only shows up here

https://www.justice.gov/pardon/clemency-grants-president-don...

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#106

Post by LocalH »

siliconc0w wrote: post #38

We should at least ban the "preemptive" pardon if not all pardons. Pardon means forgiveness for a specific convicted crime, not a means to grant blanket immunity.

We should go as far as to preemptively ban and sanction any POTUS who says "I'm going to pardon these people before I leave office".

There's no reason to say that unless you know they're actively committing federal crimes in the present day.

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#107

Post by dawnerd »

aexer0e wrote: post #97
bloppe wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've often wondered what would happen if a president explicitly offers to pardon anybody who murders members of Congress. Would they settle on reigning in the pardon power with an amendment? We're sort of already there. A lot of the Jan 6 rioters were openly trying to murder congressmen. The fact they weren't successful isn't super reassuring.

Pardons only stop the federal government from prosecuting someone, the states would still go after those individuals

And in theory a future administration could do something like threaten to withhold funding to states that don’t prosecute.

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#108

Post by jmyeet »

mullingitover wrote: post #90
jmyeet wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I have mixed feeling on this. I'm thinking of Carter fulfilling a campaign pledge to pardon draft dodgers. Whether you support that or not, he did what he said he was going to do and I'm sure only some of them had actually been charged in any way. I think that's a perfectly fine use for the pardon power. Some will point to the Hunter Biden pardon. So two things can be true at once here: it was absolutely political…

> Federal prosecutors have a ton of power. Conviction rates are 98-99%. This always gets thrown around, but the fact is they should be that high. Prosecutors shouldn't bring cases unless they have evidence of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and DOJ prosectors don't (normally) screw around. When you see lower rates of conviction, as in the current ethically bankrupt administration, it's often malicious prosecution, a…

I would be fine if high conviction rates reflected prosecutor's only bringing good cases. It doesn't. It reflects the odds being stacked against you and it being so expensive and high risk to defend yourself.

This high cost and power imbalance is used to force people into plea deals for crimes they didn't commit.

Let me give you an example: 924C enhancements [1]. This is where certain drug or violent crimes being committed with a firearm can add years or even decades to a sentence automatically.

Let's just say you live in a concealed carry state and you have a weapon on you. You're walking home and the police pick you up. You match the description of one of two people who were smoking drugs in an alley as per a 911 call. The other person was already picked up by police. He was unarmed. His story was that you sold him the drugs. He also claims you brandished a pistol.

Was there a drug transaction? Or was this simply two people smoking together? The other person had a small quantity of drugs on him when apprehended.

A 911 call mentioned seeing a weapon drawn. It was dark. You can go through versions of this scenario where you were the other person or it was a case of mistaken identity. Eitehr is bad for you.

What if the other person sold you the drugs and made up this story to avoid a distribution charge? What if as a teenager you had a minor possession charge? What if prosecutors believe the other person and make a deal for a reduced sentence in exchange for testimony?

You have a gun and now 2 witnesses who say you "brandished" the gun. So whatever charge you end up with the "brandishing a firearm" part (under 924(c)) adds 7 years to your sentence to be served consecutively. And they've stopped you with a firearm.

So what was a "he said, she said" situation has now turned into a situation where you could be facing 10 years in jail and defending against that could well cost you $200,000+, which you don't have. Or you can take this plea for 2 years in jail. What do you do?

[1]: https://www.nyccriminalattorneys.com/18-u-s-c-%C2%A7-924c-th...

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#109

Post by vidluther »

cs702 wrote: post #57

Thank you. Apologies in advance for nitpicking, but I think the correct spelling is "pardoned" (a quick search on Google confirms it).

It's a play on Donald Trump, after watching a Liz Oyer video linking a very plausible pardon for sale scheme, I wanted to initially build a site that showcased pardons just by Trump, but I realized that would be partisan and not as useful.

Re: Show HN: Pardonned.com – A searchable database of US Pardons

#110

Post by flowerlad »

LocalH wrote: post #106
siliconc0w wrote: post #38

We should at least ban the "preemptive" pardon if not all pardons. Pardon means forgiveness for a specific convicted crime, not a means to grant blanket immunity.

We should go as far as to preemptively ban and sanction any POTUS who says "I'm going to pardon these people before I leave office". There's no reason to say that unless you know they're actively committing federal crimes in the present day .

Not true. Liz Cheney hasn’t committed any crimes (as far as we know).
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