Evidence: how every claim is graded
Every claim is graded. Here is the scale.
A claim without provenance is a rumor with formatting. Each statement in a ViolationScout case file carries one of four confidence grades, computed from the structure of the record, never from prose.
| Grade | What it means | What backs it |
|---|---|---|
| Source-linked (city record) | The claim carries a working link to the city record that states it. | An HPD, DOB, or OATH/ECB page reachable from the case file. The strongest grade a published record supports. |
| Public-signal | A real public-record inference with no per-claim deep link. | Registration data, co-presence of matters, recurrence patterns. The gap is linkability, not doubt; the file says where to verify. |
| Confirmed (address-matched) | A contact detail confirmed against the registered party's address. | Address agreement between independent records. Its own grade, never promoted above the record itself. |
| Requires-verification | The record is present but stale or unconfirmed. Verify before acting. | A lapsed registration, an unconfirmed contact. Stated plainly instead of hidden. |
One word is deliberately absent from this scale. Nothing is graded higher than the record that backs it, and a constructed link is a source link, not a guarantee. When a claim cannot meet its grade, the file says so or says nothing.
The omissions, in full.
The complete list of things a ViolationScout file will not contain, and why.
| Invented deadlines or countdown clocks | No per-case deadline exists in the city data. Urgency comes from the record: an open hazard, a scheduled hearing, a matter not complied with. |
| Dollar amounts owed or accruing | The record publishes penalties of record and pending matters. A running balance is not published, so it is never claimed. |
| Unconfirmed phone numbers | A contact ships only at its true grade. A number that cannot be tied to the named party does not ship as if it could. |
| Fuzzy owner matching | Recurrence uses exact normalized matches on the registered record. Similar names are not the same name. |
| Owner intent, neglect, or distress narratives | No field describes a person's state of mind. We describe buildings and records. |
| Predicted hearing outcomes | Adjudication is published after it happens. Before that, the honest statement is the hearing date and the status. |
| If the record does not support it, the brief does not say it. | |