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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.

6,849 published reviews in this topic

dpaCrime & justice

Das Überwachungsvideo zeigt einen Mann, der in einem Linienbus in Deutschland mit dem Messer auf einen anderen Passagier einsticht.

Publisher’s rating: Falsch. Das Video stammt aus einem russischen Linienbus.

The claim concerns a surveillance video showing a man stabbing another passenger and alleges that the attack happened on a scheduled bus in Germany. The review identifies the footage as showing an attack on a man in a Russian bus, and says the video was being circulated in Germany with a claim that the bloody scene had occurred there. Its account therefore addresses the location attribution attached to this specific video, rather than whether the footage depicts a knife attack. The review places the incident on 31 July 2021, on bus route 95 in Novosibirsk. It reports that the same video appeared in a Gazeta.Ru article and in the Facebook post under discussion. The review also describes the weapon and attack visible in the footage: the attacker initially conceals the blade in his shirt sleeve, then stabs an older man. These details connect its examination to the claimed video and setting. The review cites reports from Gazeta.Ru and the Russian news agency Tass for the incident’s location and date. It says Tass reported the following day that a 39-year-old with multiple prior convictions was suspected of carrying out the attack. The excerpt does not describe independent geolocation or other verification steps, so the account should not be read as evidence that the reviewer performed those checks. It also notes that the Facebook post paired the footage with a phrase about “the best Germany of all time,” presenting the Russian incident as if it had happened in Germany.

Fact CrescendoCrime & justice

Claim: அர்ஜூன் சம்பத் சகோதரர் பாலியல் தொழில் செய்ததால் போலீசாரால் கைது செய்யப்பட்டாரா? I fake news card circulating that arjun sampath brother arrested in sex racket

Publisher’s rating: FACT CRESCENDO RATING: FALSE

Fact Crescendo examined a social-media news card alleging that Ganeshmoorthy, described in the article as a relative of Arjun Sampath, was arrested for running a prostitution establishment in Coimbatore. The review says the card was fabricated and that no such report had recently appeared in the media. This directly addresses the circulating allegation, though the excerpt identifies Ganeshmoorthy as a relative and does not confirm the claim’s wording that he was Arjun Sampath’s brother. The review reports that Fact Crescendo checked with Arjun Sampath’s side and that Kathir News, whose logo appeared on another version of the story, denied the report as false. It also says that a prostitution-related raid did take place in Coimbatore in 2020 and that some people were arrested then. According to the review, photos from that raid were reused in fake cards, with Arjun Sampath’s name added. Thus, the documented raid and arrests are from 2020; the review does not present them as evidence that the specific allegation about his relative was true. The article’s conclusion is that the circulating card was made by attaching Arjun Sampath’s name to an earlier event to spread a rumor. The excerpt does not provide the underlying 2020 arrest records or the original card images, so those details cannot be independently assessed from the supplied text.

Vera FilesCrime & justice

Lethal injection is the universally accepted method of capital punishment.

Publisher’s rating: False

Research in related reporting lists several methods of execution used in countries that retain capital punishment, rather than identifying lethal injection as a universal method. The list includes shooting, beheading, stoning, electrocution and gas inhalation, as well as lethal injection. That range contradicts the claim’s assertion that one method is universally accepted. The excerpt gives examples of where some methods are used: it associates shooting with countries including China, Belarus and Indonesia, and beheading with Saudi Arabia. It also notes that electrocution and gas inhalation are used in some U.S. states under specified circumstances. This is evidence of variation in execution methods, though the excerpt does not provide a comprehensive country-by-country account or describe how the list was compiled.

dpaCrime & justice

Alina Lipp drohen 3 Jahre Haft, weil sie eine andere Meinung vertritt als die Bundesregierung.

Publisher’s rating: Es stimmt, dass gegen Alina Lipp ermittelt wird. Dabei geht es jedoch nicht um eine bloße Meinungsäußerung, sondern die Staatsanwaltschaft wirft ihr die Billigung von Straftaten nach § 140 Nr. 2 Strafgesetzbuch (StGB) vor. In einer Vielzahl von Fällen soll Lipp demnach den russischen Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine gutgeheißen haben, der laut der Staatsanwaltschaft ein Verbrechen der Aggression nach § 13 Absatz 1 Völkerstrafgesetzbuch (VStGB) darstellt. Zum derzeitigen Zeitpunkt gibt es in diesem Fall allerdings kein Urteil gegen die 28-Jährige. Daher gilt für Lipp die Unschuldsvermutung, bis das Gegenteil bewiesen wurde.

The claim concerns Alina Lipp, a pro-Russian activist who had moved to Russia, and the reported possibility that she could face up to three years in prison in Germany for expressing a view different from the federal government’s. The review describes that framing as omitting the specific allegation behind the investigation: prosecutors suspected Lipp of approving crimes under section 140 of the Criminal Code in multiple instances, not merely of holding a contrary opinion. According to the Göttingen prosecutor’s office, the alleged conduct involved Lipp repeatedly expressing solidarity with and approving Russia’s war against Ukraine, which the office considered a crime of aggression under section 13 of the International Criminal Code. The prosecutor cited posts on Lipp’s public Telegram channel, including a post on the day the invasion began and a video dated March 12, 2022. The review reports these as examples of the alleged conduct, not as findings established by a court. The review also distinguishes the possible penalty from Lipp’s status in the investigation. It says a conviction under the cited provision could result in imprisonment of up to three years or a fine, but that no such judgment had been issued in the case at the time covered. It therefore emphasizes that the allegations were unresolved and that the presumption of innocence applied.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Video of an Indian Muslim citizen openly threatening to kill an officer while admitting the act of electricity theft

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video presented as showing an Indian Muslim citizen admitting electricity theft and threatening to kill an officer if power to his home were disconnected. The review says the video depicts a Pakistani citizen in Karachi, not an incident in India. It identifies the event as taking place in July 2020 and names the man as Shahri Ataur Rehman. To trace the footage, the review says it used reverse image searches of screenshots from the video. That led to a similar video in a Siasat.pk tweet dated 28 July 2020, which described a man confessing to electricity theft and threatening an officer in Karachi. The review also found the same video on ARY News’s official Facebook page; it reports that ARY identified the footage as being from Karachi and named Ataur Rehman. The review further reports that K-Electric Limited, a Pakistan-based power utility, posted the same video on 27 July 2020. According to the ARY News account as described in the review, K-Electric officials caught Ataur Rehman stealing electricity using a Kunda, and he threatened an officer if power to his house was disconnected. These identified location, date, person, and media trail directly contradict the claim that the footage shows an Indian incident.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Comparison of prison cells – while Gandhi and Nehru got VIP facilities, Savarkar got none

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The review investigated a collage presented as showing Savarkar’s cell alongside places where Gandhi and Nehru were held, with the comparison used to claim that Gandhi and Nehru received VIP facilities while Savarkar received none. It identifies the pictured locations as the Cellular Jail for Savarkar, Ahmednagar Fort Jail for Nehru, and Aga Khan Palace for Gandhi. Its conclusion is that the images are genuine but the comparison is misleading: the men were held in different circumstances, so the collage does not establish the asserted difference in treatment. The review says Savarkar was sent to the Cellular Jail after attempting an escape and was sentenced to 50 years—two life terms. It places him there from 1911 to 1921, then says he was sent to Ratnagiri in 1921, transferred to Yerawada Jail in 1923, and released in 1924. In contrast, Nehru was held at Ahmednagar Fort from 9 August 1942 to 15 June 1945, and Gandhi was held at Aga Khan Palace from 1942 to 1944 in connection with the Quit India movement. The review distinguishes their arrests from Savarkar’s sentence, noting that Gandhi and Nehru were not sentenced in the same way. That distinction explains the review’s reasoning, but the excerpt does not establish that Savarkar received no facilities or directly compare the conditions or privileges in the three places. It supports calling the collage’s inference misleading because it compares different places and imprisonment circumstances, not because it demonstrates equal treatment or independently proves the full claim about facilities.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Police are yet to arrest this man who is seen burning the Indian national flag

Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING

The claim concerns the man pictured burning the Indian national flag and alleges that police had not arrested him. FACTLY identifies the incident as having occurred in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, in 2016, and names the man as Dilipan Mahendran. The review says police arrested him, so its evidence contradicts the claim that he remained unarrested. The review describes using a reverse image search on the post’s photo. That search led to a News Minute report about the incident; FACTLY says it also found multiple news organizations reporting on it. According to the review, Mahendran was arrested in 2016 and booked under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act and the IT Act. The claim’s wording leaves out that earlier arrest and, as the review notes, continued to circulate despite it.