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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

FACTLYCrime & justice

A woman beaten up by the Policemen

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a collage showing an injured woman alongside policemen and alleges that the officers beat her. FACTLY identifies the woman’s injury as resulting from a crowd attack in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh—not an assault by the policemen pictured. Its account says two men groped her, and that the crowd beat her after she protested: “The woman was first groped by two men in UP’s Mainpuri, and was then beaten by a crowd for protesting against it.” The review says the incident occurred in 2016. It reports that an India Times article contained both images from the collage and described the woman being beaten by a crowd after speaking out against the two men. The review also says that, according to that article, she told police she would shoot herself if they did not arrest the men who groped her. FACTLY therefore suggests the policemen in the collage may have been officers who arrived after she called them; it does not identify them definitively. To check the images’ provenance, FACTLY says it cropped the collage image and used Google reverse image search, which led to the India Times article. It also points to an Aaj Tak news video showing the woman being beaten by the crowd. The review’s conclusion rests on distinguishing that reported crowd assault from the separate claim that the policemen in the collage inflicted the injuries.

YouturnCrime & justice

சேலம் அருகே குழந்தைகளை கடத்த வந்த வெளிமாநில கும்பலை பிடித்துள்ளனர். பிடிபட்டவர் கூறுகையில், ஒருவரை பிடித்து விடலாம் மீதமுள்ள 399 பேரை உங்களால் பிடிக்க முடியுமா என கடத்தல்காரர்கள் சவால் விட்டுள்ளனர் – வாட்ஸ் அப் ஆடியோ

Publisher’s rating: Fake

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCrime & justice

Ist ein Jugendlicher tatsächlich in Chemnitz von fünf Migranten angegriffen und mit einem Messer verletzt worden? Das gibt ein Video vor, das auf der Pro-Chemnitz-Kundgebung am 25. August 2019 gedreht wurde. Darin spricht der Demonstrationsteilnehmer über eine Attacke auf ihn und einen Freund wenige Tage zuvor in Chemnitz. Der junge Mann habe den Vorfall zur Anzeige gebracht.

Publisher’s rating: Der Chemnitzer Polizei ist ein solcher Fall aus jüngster Zeit nicht bekannt. Eine Anzeige liegt nicht vor. Es gibt keinen Beweis dafür, dass die Angaben des jungen Mannes stimmen.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCrime & justice

Im sächsischen Riesa sollen «Merkels Lieblinge» erst geklaut und dann «einem ein Messer in den Hals gerammt» haben, behauptet ein auf Facebook geteilter Beitrag. Dazu wird ein Foto von mehreren Polizeiwagen vor einem Getränkemarkt gezeigt.

Publisher’s rating: Der Ausdruck «Merkels Lieblinge» suggeriert, dass es sich bei den Tätern um Flüchtlinge handelt. An dem Vorfall waren jedoch ausschließlich deutsche Staatsbürger beteiligt.

The Facebook post alleged that people described as “Merkels Lieblinge” had stolen something and then stabbed someone in the neck, accompanying the claim with a photograph of police vehicles outside a drinks shop. The review identifies the pictured location as the Fristo drinks market at Lange Str. 46 in Riesa. It reports that police confirmed a confrontation at that location on 20 August 2019, at about 7:30 p.m., between a woman and a man—not the sequence of events alleged in the post. According to the police spokesperson quoted by the review, both people were German citizens, and no refugee or foreign national was involved. The spokesperson said the 21-year-old woman caused a cut to the 22-year-old man’s neck during the altercation. Police classified the incident as a relationship-related dispute. This evidence addresses the post’s implication about the people involved, while the account of the injury differs from the post’s suggestion that the alleged perpetrators were a group who had stolen something and attacked a victim. The review also notes an important limit: police could not confirm that the photograph itself was taken during the incident. The reported confirmation concerned an altercation at the pictured location; it does not establish the photograph’s provenance. The review says the incident was being investigated for bodily injury.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturCrime & justice

In den sozialen Netzwerken wird behauptet, in «Holland» habe ein Migrant ein Kind vergewaltigt. Weiter heißt es, der Mann sei dann «von Passanten erschlagen worden», bevor die Polizei eintraf.

Publisher’s rating: Der mutmaßliche Sexualstraftäter ist kein Migrant. Die Umstände seines Todes sind bisher nicht geklärt

The claim concerned an incident in Assen, in the Dutch province of Drenthe, on 24 August 2019. According to the police account cited by dpa, a 32-year-old man was accused of sexually abusing a four-year-old girl at a playground. The girl’s father tried to confront and restrain him as he attempted to leave by bicycle; a struggle followed, and four other men came to the father’s aid. The review reports that the man and the other people involved were all from Assen, contradicting the claim that the accused was a migrant. The review also challenges the claim that passers-by beat the man to death before police arrived. Police reportedly said the men fell to the ground during the struggle and that the four men held the accused. When officers arrived, he was already unconscious. The police had not established that the father or the four men had mistreated him during the confrontation. The review therefore does not establish that they killed him, or that the precise circumstances of his death were known. At the time covered by the review, prosecutors were investigating suspected homicide as well as the suspected sexual offence, and an autopsy was still expected to determine the cause of death. The evidence supports that the alleged assault and fatal confrontation were under investigation; it does not establish a final account of how the man died.