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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.

6,854 published reviews in this topic

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCrime & justice

Alors que des manifestations contre la discrimination raciale et les violences policières ont lieu aux États-Unis, une vidéo apparaît sur les réseaux sociaux. Un homme à la peau noire s'oppose à son arrestation par des policiers américains, qui lui réclament ses papiers. De nombreuses publications prétendent que l'homme est un agent du FBI.

Publisher’s rating: La vidéo date de l'an dernier. Elle a été enregistrée en 2019, bien avant les revendications actuelles. L'homme, qui était interrogé par les policiers, n'est pas un agent du FBI, selon ses dires et ceux des instances officielles.

The claim concerns a video circulated during U.S. protests in 2020, said to show a Black man resisting arrest while police demanded identification, with posts identifying him as an FBI agent. The DPA review describes the video as showing an encounter in which the man was handcuffed after objecting to his arrest; it says that, after checking his identity, officers realized they had stopped the wrong person. The review notes that the video itself does not establish the man’s occupation. To establish when and where the encounter occurred, the review cites a Rochester, Minnesota, city press release, which says the video was recorded on June 1, 2019. The city said officers thought the man resembled someone wanted on an assault warrant; the wanted person was described as being about the same height, weight, and age. The review reports that the city explicitly rejected the FBI identification. It also cites the man’s own account: Atter Mogndal identified himself as the person in the video and said he worked neither for the FBI nor the police. The post linking the man to the FBI appears to have been a joke, not evidence of his employment. According to the review, a now-deleted tweet by the video’s original poster called him an FBI agent, but the word “Joke” was superimposed on that claim in a screenshot preserved by Snopes. The DPA says this may have led to the mistaken attribution. Thus, the video was from 2019, and the review’s cited statements from the city and the man himself contradict the claim that he was an FBI agent.

APA - Austria Presse AgenturCrime & justice

Ein Video zeigt, dass die US-Polizei ihr eigenes Auto demolierte, um Demonstranten dafür verantwortlich zu machen.

Publisher’s rating: Das ist falsch. Das Polizeiauto wurde durch randalierende Demonstranten schwer beschädigt. Die Polizei hat später selbst die Windschutzscheibe entfernt, um das Fahrzeug wegfahren zu können.

The claim concerns a video circulated during demonstrations after George Floyd’s death. Its filmer suggested that police were damaging their own vehicle to make demonstrators appear responsible. The review identifies the car as a Boston police vehicle and locates the footage on Tremont Street in Boston, using the police logo, visible shop signs and landmarks to establish where it was filmed. [S1: “Anhand des Polizeilogos lässt sich erkennen, dass es ein Fahrzeug der Polizei in Boston ist.”; “Die Videos sind in der Tremont Street in Boston entstanden.”] The review says the circulating clip was only an excerpt from a longer film. It compared that clip with other footage showing demonstrators attacking the vehicle. Matching distinctive building and street lighting, and the car’s position with its left front tire on the intersection’s stop line, linked the videos to the same vehicle and place. The matching position also helped establish the sequence: demonstrators damaged the car before police acted. [S1: “Es fällt auf, dass es sich bei dem vorliegenden Video nur um einen Videoausschnitt eines längeren Films handelt.”; “In beiden Videos sind dieselben markanten Gebäudebeleuchtungen und Straßenlaternen zu erkennen.”; “Das Polizeiauto steht bei beiden Quellen mit dem linken Vorderreifen auf der Haltelinie vor der Kreuzung.”] The review also cites reporting and statements from Boston police to explain the later removal of the windshield. According to the account, an officer removed it because damage had restricted visibility and the car needed to be driven away. That act, shown without the earlier damage in the circulated excerpt, is the context that made the clip appear to support the accusation. [S1: “Danach hätte laut Polizeiangaben ein anderer Polizist im beschädigten Auto die Windschutzscheibe entfernt, um mit besserer Sicht den Wagen wegfahren zu können.”; “Auf dem Twitter-Account der Boston Police bestätigte man diese Berichte.”]

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCrime & justice

Op Facebook wordt in diverse postings gesuggereerd dat de meeste witte slachtoffers van moord in de Verenigde Staten (81 procent) door zwarten worden gedood. De postings van een jaren oude infografiek duiken op na de dood van George Floyd, die tot massale demonstraties tegen racisme heeft geleid. Beweerd wordt ook dat slechts 1 procent van de in de VS gedode zwarten door de politie wordt gedood. 2 percent zou door witten worden gedood, en 97 procent door andere Afro-Amerikanen.

Publisher’s rating: De getallen zijn fout. Het moment waarop de jaren oude infografiek weer opduikt suggereert ten onrechte een link met de rellen in de VS in de lente van 2020.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCrime & justice

Un post Facebook vieux de cinq ans a réapparu sur les médias sociaux. On affirme que seulement un pour cent des Noirs assassinés aux États-Unis ont été tués par la police, 2 % par les Blancs et 97 % des Afro-Américains ont été tués par d'autres Noirs. Cependant, les Noirs auraient tué 81 % des victimes blanches. Un autre tableau, accolé à la publication, donne des chiffres bruts des violences interraciales, omettant quelques données importantes

Publisher’s rating: Dans le tableau reprenant les statitiques des « crimes commis aux Etats-Unis », les chiffres sont faux. Le moment du posting établit un faux lien avec les émeutes aux États-Unis. Une autre image, comportant des données correctes sur les crimes de 2018, est accolé à la publication, mais des données sont manquantes.

The post resurfaced on Facebook in early June 2020, amid protests and unrest following police violence against Black people. Its main graphic presented figures as U.S. crime statistics: among them, that 97% of Black men killed were killed by Black men and that 81% of White victims were killed by Black people. The review traces the graphic to a 2015 tweet by then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, which displayed those figures and attributed them to a “Crime Statistics Bureau - San Francisco.” The review says the graphic’s numbers are false and that no such San Francisco agency exists. It compares the graphic’s claims with FBI figures for 2015: the FBI recorded 13,455 murders; Black people committed about 36% of all murders and White people 30%, while Black people made up 52% of victims and White people 43%. For victim-offender pairings, the review reports that 81% of White murder victims were killed by White offenders and 89% of Black victims by Black offenders. Those figures contradict the post’s claims about who killed White and Black victims. The review also notes that 2015 figures could not have been available in 2015, when the graphic was tweeted. The adjoining image is a separate issue. It uses verified 2018 Bureau of Justice Statistics figures for violence between Black and White people: 547,948 incidents involving Black offenders and White victims, and 59,778 involving White offenders and Black victims. But it omits same-race violence, including 2,222,025 incidents involving White offenders and White victims, as well as incidents involving Black offenders and Black victims. The review quotes the report’s finding that offenders were of the same race or ethnicity as victims in 70% of violent incidents involving Black victims and 62% involving White victims. Thus, the adjoining table’s cited cross-racial figures may be correct while its omissions leave a materially incomplete picture.

NewtralCrime & justice

El policía Derek Chauvin, imputado por la muerte de George Floyd, se ha suicidado

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer arrested in connection with George Floyd’s death, and says that Chauvin had died by suicide. Newtral’s review addresses that specific rumor directly: it says that Chauvin had neither been killed nor taken his own life, and distinguishes the rumor from reporting that he was being monitored for suicide risk. The review identifies the viral claim’s setting as a supposed death in Hennepin County’s maximum-security jail, but says Chauvin had instead been transferred to the Oak Park Heights facility in Minnesota. It also reports that he had been arrested on May 29 on charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The review traces the rumor to a May 30, 2020 TMZ article. As Newtral recounts it, an anonymous jail source described round-the-clock video surveillance and in-person cell checks every 15 minutes. The article characterized those circumstances as having the features of suicide-prevention monitoring, but also reported that other unnamed police sources said the checks were standard for that jail section and intended to ensure Chauvin’s safety in custody. Newtral’s account therefore distinguishes precautionary monitoring from evidence that a suicide had occurred; it reports no such evidence and explicitly rejects the claim.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCrime & justice

Un post Facebook vieux de cinq ans a réapparu dans les médias sociaux après les manifestations contre la discrimination raciale aux États-Unis et contre les actions racistes de la police dans ce pays. On affirme que seulement un pour cent des Noirs assassinés aux États-Unis ont été tués par la police, 2 % par les Blancs et 97 % des Afro-Américains ont été tués par d'autres Noirs. Cependant, les Noirs auraient tué 81 % des victimes blanches

Publisher’s rating: Les chiffres sont faux. Le moment du posting établit un faux lien avec les émeutes aux États-Unis.

The claim concerns a graphic recirculated on Facebook in early June 2020, during protests and unrest over police violence against Black people. The graphic presented figures said to describe U.S. killings, including that 97% of Black victims were killed by Black people and that Black people killed 81% of white victims. The review traces the graphic to 2015: Donald Trump tweeted it on November 22 of that year, and the image cited a purported “Crime Statistics Bureau - San Francisco.” The review reports that San Francisco had no such bureau and that the graphic’s figures could not have been available as 2015 statistics in 2015. (S1: “Début juin 2020, après des pillages et des manifestations contre les violences policières à l'encontre des Noirs, le graphique, datant de 2015, a de nouveau été partagé sur Facebook.”; “Le graphique avec les chiffres présumés de la statistique américaine 2015 a été twitté le 22 novembre 2015 par le candidat présidentiel de l'époque, Donald Trump”; “Il n'existe aucun « Crime Statistics Bureau » à San Francisco. Les chiffres pour l'année 2015 ne pouvaient, par ailleurs, pas être disponibles en 2015.”) To compare the graphic with available figures, the review cites FBI homicide statistics for 2015. It says the FBI recorded 13,455 murders that year; Black men committed about 36% of all murders and white men 30%, while Black men made up 52% of murder victims and white men 43%. Most directly, the review says the graphic reversed the reported racial breakdown for victims: 81% of white victims were killed by white offenders, and 89% of Black victims by Black offenders—not the graphic’s claims of 81% killed by Black people and 97% killed by Black people, respectively. (S1: “Selon le FBI, la police fédérale, exactement 13.455 meurtres ont été commis aux États-Unis en 2015.”; “Selon les chiffres du FBI, 81 % des victimes de meurtre ayant une couleur de peau blanche ont été tuées par un auteur blanc. 89 % des victimes noires (afro-américaines) ont été tuées par des délinquants noirs.”; “Les chiffres mentionnés dans la publication sur Facebook sont donc faux. Les chiffres sont inversés, surtout en ce qui concerne les meurtres de Blancs par des Noirs.”) The post’s figures about police killings also do not establish that police killed only about 1% of Black victims. The review notes that there was no single national reporting system or complete national database for excessive police force, so reliable comprehensive figures were not available. It cites Fatal Encounters as a source compiling public information on fatal police encounters, reporting 7,612 Black victims and 13,337 white victims since 2000. Those raw totals do not account for the groups’ different population sizes; the review says that, given the smaller Black share of the population, the likelihood of being killed by police was substantially higher for a Black person. (S1: “Il n'existe pas de chiffres officiels sur les « violences excessives » commises par les policiers, car il n'existe pas de système national unique de signalement et donc pas de base de données à l'échelle nationale.”; “Selon les chiffres du site, depuis 2000, 13.337 personnes blanches ont été tuées par des policiers, la plupart par des armes. Au cours de la même période, il y a eu 7.612 victimes afro-américaines”; “cela signifie que la probabilité d'être tué par des policiers est nettement plus élevée pour un Noir que pour un Blanc.”)

NewtralCrime & justice

Una persona está en busca y captura por apuñalar a un manifestante en Moratalaz (Madrid)

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerned a tweet showing a young man in a Podemos shirt and alleging that he was wanted for stabbing a man carrying a flag at a demonstration in Moratalaz, Madrid. Newtral examined that allegation in connection with protests on 20 May, during a casserole protest against the government’s handling of COVID-19 in the district. The review reports that no stabbing occurred at those demonstrations. The review says that at least two media outlets had reported a stabbing during the confrontations, relying on videos and photographs from that day, and that tweets repeating the account later circulated. But it says the accounts of the National Police, Madrid Emergency Services and a local youth assembly indicated that two people were injured and neither was hurt with a bladed weapon. That evidence directly contradicts the alleged stabbing underlying the claim. The excerpt does not provide the alleged man’s identity or describe an independent check of whether any person was formally subject to a wanted notice. Its stated basis for rejecting the claim is that the reported stabbing did not happen, according to the named institutional and local sources.

FACT CRESCENDOCrime & justice

હૈદરાબાદ રેલવે સ્ટેશન પર મજૂરો દ્વારા કરવામાં આવેલી ખાણી-પીણીની વસ્તુની લૂંટનો આ વિડિયો છે.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim was that a video showed workers looting food at Hyderabad railway station. The review says the post, shared on Facebook on 27 May 2020, described hungry workers collectively looting snacks and presented the footage as being from Hyderabad. The investigation concluded that the location in the claim was wrong: the video showed Old Delhi railway station instead. To investigate, the reviewers took a screenshot from the shared video and searched it using Google reverse image search. They report that this led them to a News18 report identifying the incident as having taken place at Old Delhi railway station. A search on Google using different keywords also led them to a TV9 Bharatvarsh report that identified the video as being from Old Delhi railway station. On that basis, the review rated the post false: the footage concerned a food-looting incident, but not at the Hyderabad location claimed.