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Crime & justice fact checks

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

6,854 published reviews in this topic

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaCrime & justice

Former MP Namal Rajapaksa Tweeted that Rajeev Jayaweeras death was suspicious and an immediate investigation needs to be conducted | නාමල් රකපක්ෂ මහතාගේ සංස්කරණය කරන ලද ට්විටර් පණිවුඩයක්

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a message presented as a tweet by former MP Namal Rajapaksa expressing condolences to Rajeev Jayaweera’s family, describing Jayaweera’s death as suspicious and calling for an urgent investigation. The review identifies this message among posts circulating on social media and says it investigated whether Rajapaksa had issued it. Its conclusion addresses the attribution of the tweet, not whether Jayaweera’s death itself was suspicious. To check the attribution, the review examined Rajapaksa’s Twitter account and found no such message among its posts from the preceding days. It also checked the Twitter account of Rajapaksa’s media unit, which had identified purported messages from his account as fake. The review additionally reports that examination of both images for signs of manipulation indicated they had been edited, and that the screenshots did not look like Twitter screenshots normally did. On that evidence, the review concludes that the circulated tweet images were fabricated and that the Facebook posts presenting them as messages from Rajapaksa’s account were false. The excerpt does not describe an independent investigation into Jayaweera’s death; its reported checks concern whether Rajapaksa published the claimed tweet.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCrime & justice

Différentes publications sur Facebook, Twitter et Instagram tentent de démontrer que Derek Chauvin, le policier qui est accusé du meurtre de George Floyd, est, en réalité, un acteur. (http://dpaq.de/2NF9K) Et d'ajouter : « Tout fini (sic!) par se savoir ».

Publisher’s rating: Le policier accusé du meurtre de George Floyd n'est pas un acteur. Un photomontage mélange des images du policier (Derek Chauvin) et d'un acteur connu, Ben Bailey. Le profil d'acteur au nom de Derek Chauvin sur le site de cinéma et de télévision IMDb ne comporte que les apparitions du policier dans les journaux télévisés et les émissions qui ont parlé de la mort de George Floyd.

The claim circulated on social media that Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis officer accused in George Floyd’s death, was actually an actor. The review says the posts used a photo montage combining images of Chauvin with those of actor Ben Bailey, and sometimes pointed to an IMDb profile under Chauvin’s name. It concludes that the two men are distinct and unrelated, and that the profile does not establish Chauvin was an actor. (S1) The review describes checking the IMDb listing and cites a Reuters fact-check that reported an IMDb spokesperson said the profile was created on May 28, three days after Floyd’s death. The spokesperson explained that non-actors can have IMDb profiles when they appear in news broadcasts or documentaries, and that the word “actor” was not listed beside Chauvin’s name because he had not been credited as one. The review further says the listed appearances were television coverage discussing the case. (S1) The article also addresses a related, separate insinuation that the person arrested was not the officer shown in the video. It says comparisons between video images and booking photographs were affected by differences in angle and image quality; the photos were taken on different dates, with about six days between them. These comparisons do not support the claim that Chauvin was an actor. (S1)

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCrime & justice

Différentes publications sur Facebook, Twitter et Instagram tentent de démontrer que Derek Chauvin, le policier qui est accusé du meurtre de George Floyd, est, en réalité, un acteur, ou à tout le moins, pas le même homme qui est en prison. Les internautes se questionnent en comparant différentes photographies du policier.

Publisher’s rating: Le policier accusé du meurtre de George Floyd n'est pas un acteur. Un photomontage mélange des images du policier sur le terrain et lors de son incarcération. Ce montags tente de berner les internautes en faisant croire que c'est un autre homme qui est en prison.

The claim arose from social-media posts comparing images of Derek Chauvin in footage of George Floyd’s arrest with jail photographs. The review says those comparisons prompted claims that Chauvin was an actor, or that the person jailed was not the same man. Its investigation identifies both as Chauvin and explains why differences between the images are not evidence of different identities: the views and image quality differ, and the photographs were taken on different days. The reviewer notes that the mugshots show Chauvin facing forward and in profile, while the video images do not provide equivalent views or optimal image quality. (S1: “Sur les réseaux sociaux, des internautes laissent sous-entendre que l'officier de police de Minneapolis, accusé de meurtre de George Floyd et arrêté, n'est pas l'agent de police de la vidéo.”; “Les deux hommes sont pourtant un seul : Derek Chauvin. Tout est question d'angle de vue.”; “Sur le mugshot, il regarde de face et de profil de façon franche. Les images de la vidéo n'offrent pas des prises de vues égales, ni une qualité optimale de l'image.”) The review also addresses the apparent difference in hair. It dates the video images to May 25, 2020, and says the orange-uniform Hennepin County jail images were probably taken May 31—about six days later. It reports that Chauvin had been arrested May 29, transferred to Ramsey County, and then arrived at Hennepin County Jail on May 31 before being transferred that day to the state prison at Oak Park Heights. The review says hair could grow up to three millimeters in that interval, enough to make a visible difference. (S1: “Les photos où il porte des lunettes de soleil sur le sommet du crâne sont tirées de la vidéo du passant qui a montré la mort de George Floyd au monde entier. Elles datent du lundi 25 mai.”; “Les photos de Derek Chauvin portant la tenue orange des prisonniers ont vraisemblablement été prises le dimanche 31 mai 2020”; “Six jours environ séparent donc les deux photos. Les cheveux de l'agent de police peuvent avoir poussé jusqu'à trois millimètres”)

YouturnCrime & justice

திருச்சி மாவட்டத்தைச் சேர்ந்த இவர்களின் திருமண வீடியோவை டிக்டாக்கில் பதிவேற்றம் செய்த மாப்பிள்ளையின் நண்பன், மாப்பிளை, இருவீட்டாரின் குடும்பத்தினர் ஆகியோர் மீது 5 பிரிவுகளில் வழக்கு பதிவு செய்யப்பட்டது. பெண்ணுக்கு 17 வயது தான் என்பதால் அரசு காப்பகத்தில் சேர்த்துள்ளனர்.

Publisher’s rating: Fake

Fact Crescnedo Sri LankaCrime & justice

පාතාල මර්දනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පළවූ විරෝධතා ලෙස පළවූ ව්‍යාජ සංස්කරණ පෙළක් | Series of image edits relating to protests against underworld crime

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The review examined social-media posts that appeared to show Sri Lankan artists protesting police action against underworld crime. The posts included slogans such as calls to protect underworld members’ “right to live” and to end the crackdown. The review says the images were edited, rather than photographs of protests on that subject.

FACTLYCrime & justice

Video of a girl beaten up by a group of people in Uttar Pradesh for drawing water from a well that belongs to an upper caste community

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video said to show a Dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh being beaten for drawing water from a well belonging to an upper-caste community. FACTLY’s review identifies the video as showing a different event: a tribal girl in Chhota Udepur district, Gujarat, who was beaten by relatives after eloping with a man from her village. The review therefore finds that the video does not establish the claimed location or reason for the assault. (S1: “A tribal girl of Chhota Udepur district (Gujarat) was brutally beaten by her relatives for eloping with a man from the same village.”) The review says it checked screenshots from the video using Google reverse image search. It reports that the search led to accounts of the Gujarat incident, rather than an assault in Uttar Pradesh over access to a well. FACTLY also says Chhota Udepur Police filed an FIR against three men involved in the incident. (S1: “When the screenshots of the video were run through Google reverse image search, it is found that the incident shown in the video took place in Gujarat, not in Uttar Pradesh.”; “the Chhota Udepur Police have filed an FIR against the three men who were involved in this incident.”) The review further attributes an explanation to a police officer: the family believed the girl had brought disrespect on the family, and relatives beat her in public. That account is distinct from the post’s claim that the violence was punishment for drawing water from an upper-caste well. The review concludes that the footage was shared with a false description of both the incident’s location and its cause. (S1: “A Police officer, while explaining about the incident to media, said that the family thought she brought disrespect to the family, and hence the relatives thrashed her brutally in front of the public.”)

FACTLYCrime & justice

Video of men burnt alive in India for slaughtering a cow

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a clip showing men chained and placed in a cage, said to depict them being burned alive in India for slaughtering a cow. FACTLY reports that the footage instead shows a magic trick performed in Kerala in 2008. Its review says that a longer version of the clip shows the men emerging from the fire, rather than being killed.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCrime & justice

Auf Facebook wird behauptet, dass Schwarze angeblich 81 Prozent der weißen Mordopfer auf dem Gewissen hätten. Von den in den USA ermordeten Schwarzen soll nur ein Prozent von der Polizei getötet worden sein, weitere zwei Prozent von Weißen. 97 Prozent der Afroamerikaner seien von anderen Schwarzen umgebracht worden. Das fünf Jahre alte Posting ist im Zusammenhang mit den Protesten in den USA gegen Rassendiskriminierung und rassistisches Handeln der Polizei wieder in sozialen Medien aufgetaucht.

Publisher’s rating: Die Zahlen sind frei erfunden. Die falsche Grafik ist mehrere Jahre alt.

The claim concerns a Facebook graphic asserting that Black people committed 81 percent of killings of white victims, while 97 percent of Black victims were killed by Black people; it also gives percentages for killings by police and white perpetrators. The review traces the graphic to a 2015 post by then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. It reports that he shared it on November 22, 2015, and that the graphic named “Crime Statistics Bureau - San Francisco” as its source. The review checked whether that source and the figures made sense for San Francisco. It says there is no “Crime Statistics Bureau” in the city, and that full-year 2015 figures could not have been available during that year. It also compares the graphic’s city-level framing with local homicide counts: San Francisco had about 50 homicide and manslaughter cases in each of 2014 and 2015, making a one-percent share implausible as a meaningful whole-number count because a single case would be about two percent. For a national comparison, the review cites FBI figures for 2015: 13,455 murders and manslaughters, with Black men responsible for about 36 percent of such offenses and white men for 30 percent; Black men accounted for 52 percent of victims and white men 43 percent. Most directly, the review says FBI data show that 81 percent of white victims were killed by white perpetrators, not Black perpetrators, and that 89 percent of Black victims were killed by Black perpetrators, rather than the graphic’s 97 percent. These figures contradict central claims in the graphic.

Fact CrescendoCrime & justice

Claim: Was Prabhakaran bailed out by J Anbazhagan in pondy bazaar shoot out case

Publisher’s rating: False

The review investigates a social-media claim that J. Anbazhagan, acting on M. Karunanidhi’s instruction, secured bail for Prabhakaran after the 1982 Pondy Bazaar shooting. It says the claim spread after director Ameer made that assertion in an interview about Anbazhagan, and the review identifies the case as the shooting involving Prabhakaran and Uma Maheswaran. The reported incident occurred on 5 May 1982 in Pondy Bazaar, Chennai. For its account of who handled Prabhakaran’s case, the review relies on senior DMK lawyer K. S. Radhakrishnan, whom it describes as a witness present at the scene. It reports that Radhakrishnan disputed the claim and gave an account of helping Prabhakaran after the arrest. The review also says he shared a copy of Prabhakaran’s police statement and explained that, after bail, Prabhakaran was placed in Madurai while Uma Maheswaran was placed in Chennai. The review says that The Rising Sun, described as an official DMK publication, also rejected Ameer’s account. It concludes that the evidence it examined did not connect Anbazhagan to Prabhakaran’s bail and identifies Radhakrishnan, rather than Anbazhagan, as the person who helped him. The excerpt does not provide the underlying statement or the full text of Radhakrishnan’s account, so those documents cannot be independently assessed from the supplied material.

NewtralCrime & justice

Estados Unidos relaciona a los ministros Ábalos e Iglesias con el narcotráfico

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerned online reports that a witness for U.S. prosecutors, along with the FBI, had linked Spain’s Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos and Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias to drug trafficking. Newtral examined the alleged testimony attributed to a former FARC member said to be cooperating with the DEA. The review says the testimony described alleged drug trafficking by the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador, but did not name Podemos, Ábalos, or Venezuela’s vice president Delcy Rodríguez. It says the article making the claim—not the testimony—connected those Spanish figures to it. Newtral also checked the claim’s purported connection to the U.S. case announced on March 26, 2020, in the Southern District of New York. That court document accused Nicolás Maduro, people close to him, and FARC leaders of drug trafficking, but the review reports that it did not mention Spain or Spanish government members. Newtral says it contacted the court and that the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed there was no further case resolution beyond that charging document and its public associated documents; those materials likewise did not mention the alleged events. The review separately examined the claimed link to the January 20 diplomatic incident at Madrid-Barajas Airport involving Ábalos and Rodríguez. It reports that the account tying the incident to drug smuggling relied on a separate allegation about 40 suitcases, while the Guardia Civil told Newtral it was unaware of the reported event or the source of that information. The reviewed evidence therefore does not support the claim that U.S. authorities connected Ábalos and Iglesias to narcotics trafficking.