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  • 2016-06-29 (xsd:date)
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  • Swedish Police Hand Out 'Don’t Touch Me' Bracelets to Stop Refugee Rapists? (en)
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  • On 30 June 2016, the Federalist Papers web site published an article reporting that police in Sweden were distributing distinctive bracelets to stop refugee rape: Like many similar articles, the site approached the story from the assumption Sweden and other European countries had seen an uptick of sexual assaults due to an influx of refugees from the Middle East: Breitbart also approached the bracelets from the assumption that their production was directly and unequivocally a result of sexual assaults committed by refugees in Sweden: Such articles linked to a June 2016 press release issued by police in Sweden. But the press release pertained to unwanted sexual advances among youth, it didn'ttarget rape, migrants, or linguistic barriers that might inhibit the bracelets' effectiveness: The misinterpretations involving rape bracelets were related to a May 2016 report on sexual assault in Sweden. Both Swedish- and English-language news outlets either mistranslated or misconstrued the findings of that lengthy report to claim that refugees or migrants were responsible for an increase in sexual assaults in that country. In fact, the document primarily addressed alcohol and music festivals as high-risk factors. A May 2015 Globe and Mail column addressed both misconceptions about refugee rape in Sweden and why that country appears to have a higher than average sexual assault rate than comparable countries: That op-ed included more nuanced information from Sarnecki about the relationship between immigration and crime rates in Sweden and elsewhere: Some English-language reporting cited the anti-immigrant publication Fria Tider, but a more neutral article published by the English-language version of The Local described the bracelets and their purpose (mentioning the rumors about migrants, but not as a driving factor behind their creation) as follows: The notion that refugees in Europe (and particularly Sweden) are, among other things, sexually assaulting women at alarming rates remains prevalent. But Swedish police are not distributing rape bracelets as a tactic to stop a purported increase in refugee rape. (en)
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