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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.

6,831 published reviews in this topic

Deutsche WelleCrime & justice

The Washington County Sheriff's Office, Utah, posteda picture on its Facebook timeline claiming to show a "much clearer image of the suspect compared to others we have seen in the media."

Publisher’s rating: DW Fact check: Fake The same picture has appeared on X multiple times (here, hereand here). These are all examples of misinformation. At first glance, the image resembles a close-up of the FBI-released photo. Upon closer inspection, several indicators suggest it is fake, AI-generated, to be more precise. First: The image in question was never officially released by the FBI. Second: A side-by-side comparison reveals differences in eye level, color sharpness, and texture. The AI-generated image features unnaturally smooth skin, wax-like facial features, and painted-like colors, unlike the grainy original. The image posted by the Sheriff’s Office also contains obvious AI mistakes: The suspect appears to wear a watch on the left wrist, which is absent in the original. The cap displays a gibberish symbol, and the flag on the t-shirt is distorted. The face lacks wrinkles, and the background includes a person in black trousers who doesn’t appear in the original image. In contrast, the FBI's original image shows someone descending stairs in a light-colored shirt behind the suspect, not standing directly behind him. The FBI has released six CCTV images taken before R. was caught, related to the Kirk investigation, only one of which shows the person's frontal face, when they are apparently climbing stairs. The rest are from the back or side, revealing little about the individual’s identity. The person is wearing a cap and sunglasses, making recognition difficult.

Deutsche WelleCrime & justice

Do Democrat-led US cities have more crime?

Publisher’s rating: Before analyzing crime statistics, it’s important to understand the political landscape of major US cities. In 2024, out of the 100 largest cities in the country: 65 were led by mayors affiliated with the Democratic Party,23 were led by Republican-affiliated mayors. According to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, rural areas tend to lean Republican, while urban populations are more likely to vote Democrat. Larger cities also tend to report higher crime rates than rural areas. The overlap of Democratic leadership and higher crime may appear to support Trump’s claim, but correlation does not imply causation. City rankings don't tell the full story, FBI warns When sorting 2024 FBI crime rates by city and mayors' party affiliation, a first cursory look showed some Democratic cities with some of the highest violent crime rates in that year. But: the majority of Democrat-run cities have crime rates similar to those run by Republican-affiliated mayors. The FBI told DW the agency explicitly discouragesusing its data to compile rankings of cities and counties "as a way of measuring law enforcement effectiveness" since they don't include the numerous variables that are playing a role in crime rates, such as population density and urbanization, economic conditions, population variation down to citizens' crime reporting practices, among others. There can also be a huge variation in crime within a city itself,like having safe neighborhoods in a city with otherwise high crime rates. Since the population size can influence the number of crimes committed, it's worth not only looking at crimes committed in relation to population size (violent crimes per 100K inhabitants), but also at crime rates of cities that are similar in size. For example: Memphis, Tennessee and El Paso, Texas, both run by Democrat-affiliated mayors, are similar in size, but the violent crime rate of Memphis is about ten times higher than that of El Paso. Another example: Irvine, California and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Irvine had the lowest violent crime rate among the US largest cities in 2024 and is run by a mayor affiliated with the Democratic Party. Virgina Beach has a similar crime rate but is run by a mayor affiliated with the Republican Party. While we looked at the most recent available data from 2024 that was published in August, researchers from Harvard, University of Washington Tacoma, University of Pittsburgh, and George Washington University did a full analysis spanning nearly three decades. Their study published in January 2025 looked at data from 400 medium and large US cities and found the political affiliation of mayors made little difference when it comes to crime rates and policing. "Electing a Democrat rather than a Republican as mayor leads to no detectable impact on police staffing or expenditures on criminal justice, nor does it lead to changes in crime or arrest rates," the study concluded. "Over the last 30 years, nearly every city in the United States has seen a big decrease in crime, both violent crime and property crime," Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, associate professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and one of the authors of the study, told The Harvard Gazette. National violent crime decreased by an estimated 4.5% in 2024 compared to 2023 estimates, the latest FBI reportsaid, while murder and non-negligent manslaughter dropped by nearly 15% compared to the previous year. Looking at the crime rates of one particular year is only a snapshot in time. However, comparing the crime rates of individual cities from one year to another shows a lot of fluctuation rather than a clear trend. This also points towards crime rates not being influenced by a mayor's party affiliation, given that mayors are in office for several years, depending on the length of the term and whether they are re-elected.

youturnCrime & justice

ஜெர்மனியில் அரசின் தடையை மீறி புறாவுக்கு உணவு போட்ட தமிழ்நாட்டு முதல்வர் ஜேர்மன் பொலிசாரால் கைதுசெய்யப்பட்டு தண்டப்பணம் செலுத்திய பின் விடுதலை செய்யப்பட்டார்.

Publisher’s rating: misleading

Deutsche WelleCrime & justice

Die Justiz betreibt Machtmissbrauch.

Publisher’s rating: DW Faktencheck: Irreführend. Der angebliche Machtmissbrauch der Justiz und die Kritik an Verfassungsrichter Alexandre de Moraes ist ein langjähriges Narrativ der Anhänger des Ex-Präsidenten. So bezeichneten Oppositionspolitiker im brasilianischen Senat auf einer Pressekonferenzim Juli die vom Verfassungsgericht verhängten Vorsichtsmaßnahmen gegen Bolsonaro als "willkürlich, autoritär und ein Zeichen eines staatlichen Ausnahmezustands". Darunter fällt, dass der Ex-Präsident eine elektronische Fußfessel tragen muss, sowie keine soziale Medien nutzen und Kontakte mit politischen Verbündeten pflegen darf. Die "New York Times" greift diese Kritik auf. In dem Artikel heißt es: "Brasilien schafft etwas, was die USA nicht geschafft haben: 40 Jahre nach dem Ende einer brutalen Militärdiktatur bringt es einen ehemaligen Präsident vor Gericht, der nach einer verlorenen Wahl einen Staatsstreich versucht haben soll. Doch die Art und Weise, wie das geschieht, stellt das Land vor unangenehme Fragen." Zu den "unangenehmen Fragen" gehört laut NYT, dass das Gericht seine Autorität maximal nutzt. Das Verfassungsgericht verfüge über eine enorme Macht. So ordnete das Gericht die zeitweise Sperrung des sozialen Netzwerks X wegen Verbreitung von Fake News im Wahlkampf an. Trotz aller Kritik erhebt die NYT allerdings nicht den Vorwurf, dass das Gericht seine Befugnisse überschritten hätte. Auch Experten üben Kritik. "Obwohl es ein rechtsstaatlicher Prozess ist, stört mich als Jurist die Tatsache, dass Moraes selbst zu Gericht sitzt, obwohl er laut Anklage neben Präsident Lula eines der geplanten Mordopfer gewesen sein soll", erklärt der Jurist Georg Witschel im DW-Gespräch.

youturnCrime & justice

‘திமுக ஆட்சியில் ரவுடிகள், அரசு அதிகாரிகள் கூட்டணியில் மண் திருட்டு நடக்கின்றது. அதனை தட்டிக்கேட்ட பிரபாகரன் என்ற செயல்பாட்டாளர் மீது ரவுடிகள் தாக்குதல் நடத்துகிறார்கள், போலீஸ் அவர் மீது பொய் வழக்கு போடுகிறது. இந்த இந்த செய்தியை காட்டுத் தீயாய் பரப்புவோம். மனசாட்சி உள்ள ஒவ்வொரு இதயங்களிடமும் நீதி கேட்போம்’ - சரவணபிரசாத் பாலசுப்பிரமணியம், பாஜக ஆதரவாளர்.

Publisher’s rating: misleading