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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Crime & justice fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about crime & justice. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

6,836 published reviews in this topic

המשרוקיתCrime & justice

מבחינת השופטים (הנאשם זוכה) כי (המתלוננת) 'לא אמרה לא'... פסיקה מבישה ושערורייתית

Publisher’s rating: ללא ציון

The statement concerned the acquittal of a man accused of raping an 82-year-old woman, and portrayed the judges’ reasoning as that she “didn’t say no.” The review examined the judgment and the reporting that prompted the statement. It describes the case as involving a disputed account of the relationship and of what happened at the woman’s home; the court’s task was to decide whether the injuries resulted from non-consensual rape or consensual sex, as the accused argued. The review also notes that the case included a medical dispute over the cause of the injuries. (“הכרעת הדין עוסקת בשאלה”; “האם החבלה הגופנית הינה תוצר של אונס ברוטלי על ידי הנאשם, ללא הסכמה, כטענת המתלוננת, או שמא תוצר של יחסי מין מוסכמים ובתמורה, כטענת הנאשם?”; “שקבע כי ייתכן שהחבלות נגרמו כתוצאה מיחסים בגילה המבוגר של המתלוננת.”) The review reports that the judges rejected parts of the complainant’s account using evidence beyond her testimony. For example, it says the judges relied on visual documentation to find that an alleged incident at the pair’s first meeting had not occurred, and listened to recorded calls they characterized as sexual in nature. On consent, the judgment did not say that prior agreement alone was enough: it stated that the accused could not rely on earlier consent, but found that the prosecution had not proved, to the criminal standard, that the complainant had objected, even passively. (“על סמך תיעוד ויזואלי, כי אירוע כזה כלל לא התרחש”; “השופטים גם האזינו לשיחות הטלפון שקדמו למפגש”; “ברור ומובן כי הנאשם לא יכול היה להסתפק בהסכמות קודמות”) The review therefore finds the statement misleading as a description of the basis for acquittal: the judgment’s reasoning involved the court’s assessment of the evidence and the prosecution’s failure to prove lack of consent to the required standard, not simply the absence of a spoken “no.” The review says it cannot determine whether the judgment was correct or what actually happened, but concludes that reducing the acquittal to “because the complainant didn’t say no” leaves out the other findings. (“בית המשפט לא זיכה את הנאשם מעבירת אונס רק משום שהמתלוננת לא הביעה התנגדות מילולית מפורשת למעשה.”; “הכרעת הדין מבוססת על שורה של ראיות”; “לנו אין כמובן יכולת או יומרה לקבוע האם פסק הדין שניתן הוא נכון או משקף את מה שאירע בפועל.”)

dpaCrime & justice

Als je een hond ziet die is opgesloten in een auto bij hitte moet je een foto nemen, de politie bellen, 5 minuten wachten en dan mag je de ruit inslaan en zal je niet verantwoordelijk zijn voor de schade.

Publisher’s rating: Dit klopt niet: wie een autoraam inslaat, ook al is het met goede intenties, is verantwoordelijk voor de schade. Best bel je de politie, zij mogen wel zulke acties ondernemen.

The review examined a Facebook post advising people who find a dog in a hot car to photograph it, call the police, wait five minutes, and then break a window without being responsible for the resulting damage. Its account of the Federal Police’s guidance contradicts that assurance: a spokesperson said they did not recommend breaking a car window on one’s own initiative and explained that deliberately damaging another person’s property can constitute an offence and lead to civil liability for the damage. The article distinguishes that general warning from the emergency exception. It says members of the public should first try to find the car’s owner and, if unsuccessful, contact the police, who are permitted to take such action. A person might break a window only if the dog is in acute danger of death and the action is taken in explicit consultation with the police. The article therefore does not support the post’s blanket claim that waiting five minutes makes breaking a window permissible or removes responsibility for damage. The review also notes that a dog’s situation can become urgent: cars heat up quickly, and how soon a dog becomes overheated depends on several factors. It describes signs including panting, heavy drooling and reduced alertness, with vomiting, diarrhoea or loss of consciousness possible as the condition progresses. Its practical advice is to seek the owner, contact the police, and treat any emergency action as subject to the stated police-consultation condition.

YouturnCrime & justice

ந்த இந்து பெண் பினிதா ராஜஸ்தானை சேர்ந்தவர். பழ வியாபாரியான முகமதுவைக் காதலித்து, வீட்டை விட்டு ஓடிப்போனவள், 22 நாட்களுக்குப் பிறகு அவள் சாக்கு மூட்டையில் காணப்பட்டாள், முகமது, பினிதாவை பாலத்தின் அடியில் வீசுவதற்காகச் சுமந்து சென்றான். அவள் கால்கள் சாக்குப் பையில் இருந்து நழுவியது கூட முகம்மதுக்குத் தெரியாது. பின்னால் ஒரு கார் வந்து, இந்தப் புகைப்படத்தை எடுத்துக்கொண்டு போலீஸை அழைத்தது. நீங்கள் அனைவரும் உங்கள் மகளை நன்றாக கவனிக்கவும்

Publisher’s rating: False

המשרוקית של גלובסCrime & justice

70% מאמצעי הנשק הלא חוקיים בחברה הערבית מגיעים מבסיסי הצבא

Publisher’s rating: לא מבוסס

The review examines a statement by Knesset member Ahmad Tibi about illegal weapons in Arab communities. In a television interview, Tibi asked how 70% of those weapons could come from military bases. The review says that available records do not establish that proportion: the police had no official estimate of the total number of illegal weapons in Israel or in Arab society, so there was no reliable total against which to calculate the share originating with the military. The investigation compared the claim with State Comptroller reports and a Knesset Research and Information Center document. These sources identified several principal sources of weapons, including thefts from the military, smuggling from Jordan, and local production; the later report also listed imports of parts and imitation weapons. But they did not quantify the proportion attributable to any source. The review notes that 272 weapons were stolen from the military between 2017 and 2020, while stressing that this partial figure cannot establish the claimed percentage without a total count of illegal weapons. The review traced the 70% figure to statements made during Gilad Erdan’s tenure as public security minister, rather than to official data. It cites an earlier statement that 90% of illegal weapons in northern Israel came from the military, but says that figure was not supported by documentation and concerned northern Israel, not necessarily Arab society as a whole. The review’s central finding is therefore about the absence of data substantiating Tibi’s specific percentage—not that military theft is absent as a source of weapons.

PA MediaCrime & justice

14-year-old Holly Preston missing in Whitton and her family believes she's been abducted...

Publisher’s rating: False. There is no evidence of a missing girl called Holly Preston from Whitton, nor any evidence that the BBC has ever covered an appeal for someone called Holly Preston. The website emulates Facebook in a scam attempt to get access to users’ passwords and personal information. The picture claiming to show “Holly Preston” appears to be linked with another girl or young woman.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Recent video of a group of Railway gang men reprimanding a boy for placing stones on a railway track in Karnataka

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns a video said to show railway gang men in Karnataka stopping a boy from placing stones on a track in a recent incident. The review identifies it as footage of an older event near Kalaburagi, not a new incident. It reports that railway gang men near Kalaburagi railway station caught boys placing stones on the tracks, reprimanded one of them, and made him remove the stones. The review describes two checks. First, an internet search using relevant keywords found that the video had circulated since 2018. Second, after comments suggested the speech matched the Kalaburagi Kannada accent, the review says it contacted Bidar Railway Police, Kalaburagi RPF, and Raichur Railway Police. Each authority reportedly confirmed that the incident took place during the 2018 period near Kalaburagi railway station. The review also notes that no FIR was registered. The evidence therefore supports that the video depicts a real railway-track incident in Karnataka, but contradicts its presentation as recent: the incident was from 2018. The review cautions that it could not independently verify the boys’ identities, their motives, or any other individuals involved.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Dead body of a Hindu woman, who is believed to have succumbed to the influence of love jihad, was discovered in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post joined two claims: that a Hindu woman’s body had been found in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai, and that her death was connected to “love jihad.” FACTLY’s review says the viral image showed a woman who had been killed, but reports that the circumstances established by the investigation did not support that alleged motive: the woman was named Anjali Mintu Singh, and the review identifies her husband, Mintu Singh, and brother-in-law, Chun Chun Singh, as the men who murdered her. It says they suspected her of having an illicit relationship. The review describes how it checked the image: a reverse-image search returned news articles showing the same photograph. It reports that a June 2, 2023, news account said a headless woman’s body had been found in a travel bag on the beach in Uttan, west of Bhayandar, in Maharashtra. A separate report dated June 4, the review says, described the police investigation as identifying the husband and brother-in-law as the killers. These details connect the image and the death to the specific incident, rather than to the post’s account of a body found in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai. The decisive context is the review’s account that both the victim and the accused were Hindus and that investigators described suspicion of an illicit relationship—not a religious or “love jihad” motive—as the reason for the killing. Thus, while the image did depict a murdered Hindu woman, the post attached an unsupported communal explanation to the incident.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Visuals of Muslim men molesting a Hindu woman in Bihar

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video said to show Muslim men molesting a Hindu woman in Bihar. FACTLY identifies the incident shown as taking place in Gulariya Chak village in Gaya, where several men sexually harassed a woman while she was with her boyfriend. Its review says that police took notice after the video went viral, filed an FIR and arrested three of the five accused. It reports that all three arrested men were Hindus and that police rejected a communal interpretation of the incident. To trace the footage, FACTLY says it found posts from a local news agency featuring identical videos and used those posts to identify the location and circumstances. It also describes checking statements from Gaya police: an account by Superintendent of Police Himanshu said two suspects had been identified and the other three had also been identified; a police press statement announced the arrest of a third suspect, Nitish Kumar, and refuted the communal angle. On the evidence presented, the video depicts a real molestation incident, but the review finds no support for the claim that the accused were Muslim men targeting a Hindu woman. The review’s conclusion rests on the reported identification of the arrested accused as Hindus and the police’s explicit rejection of a communal angle—not on a claim that the assault did not occur.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Photos depicting the transformation of a woman before and after an acid attack, linked to alleged Love Jihad

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The viral collage was presented as showing a woman before and after an acid attack, with the implication that the attack was connected to alleged Love Jihad. FACTLY identifies the woman in the images as Resham Khan and says the attack instead occurred in East London in June 2017, when Khan was celebrating her 21st birthday. Her cousin, Jameel Mukhtar, was also attacked. The review describes a reverse image search as its route to identifying the photographs. That search led to an Independent report featuring the same set of images and identifying Khan. FACTLY then connects the images to an attack by John Tomlin, not to the alleged relationship or motive asserted in the viral post. The review reports that Khan and Mukhtar were Muslim, had no prior knowledge of Tomlin, and that police treated the attack as a hate crime. It also says Tomlin surrendered to police and received a 16-year prison sentence. These details contradict the post’s framing: according to the review, the photographs document an attack on two cousins in London, with no prior connection between them and the attacker, rather than evidence of the alleged Love Jihad scenario.