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I would like to know how our society expects people to follow laws that are incomprehensible to the average joe.

I (and most HNers, I'd presume) have the reading comprehension skills to navigate through legislature. Most do not.

When attempting to show people the actual legislation that is behind what they heard was a "law", they tend to get glossy eyed and shut down entirely.

IMHO, this is a problem worth solving.



You are 200% right! We are actually working on something remotely like this. There are so many collateral consequences associated with various laws. For example, some states require a waiting period of 1-5 years before you can even apply to get a barber license if you have certain misdemeanor or felony convictions. While the judge and society feels it is fair to say hey we caught you with an pound of marijuana, here's a fine and a year probation to serve. The true consequence is that you are now a convicted felon and lose many rights, including some job opportunities or at minimum the ability to obtain an occupational license as is the case for a barber.

In short, on top of several other services, we are building an overlay to job search for ex-offenders that will allow them to easily see if they qualify for a job/occupational license based on their offense. If they don't it will tell them the criteria if and when they can. It is a tedious process because sorting through laws and various legislation is not exactly the most exciting startup concept at 3am and can be open to a wide array of interpretation by design (criminal lawyers gotta make their money somehow). We don't intend for it to be the holy grail for information, but at least it will provide a guideline for job seekers with criminal records to be able to easily sort through and identify opportunities.




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