National Museum of Crime and Punishment

Coordinates: 38°53′49″N 77°01′18″W / 38.897°N 77.0216°W / 38.897; -77.0216
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Crime Museum
National Museum of Crime and Punishment is located in Washington, D.C.
National Museum of Crime and Punishment
Location within Washington, D.C.
National Museum of Crime and Punishment is located in the United States
National Museum of Crime and Punishment
National Museum of Crime and Punishment (the United States)
EstablishedMay 23, 2008 (2008-05-23)
DissolvedSeptember 30, 2015 (2015-09-30)
Location575 7th Street NW, Washington, D.C., USA
Websitewww.crimemuseum.org

The National Museum of Crime and Punishment, also known as the Crime Museum, was a privately owned museum dedicated to the history of

Gallery Place station. The museum closed in 2015 and is now operated as Alcatraz East, a museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
.

The museum was built by

$21 million, and opened in May 2008.[2] Unlike most museums in Washington, DC, the Crime Museum was a for-profit enterprise.[3] It was forced to close in September 2015 by its building's owners after it failed to meet sales targets specified in its lease.[4]

More than 700 artifacts in 28,000 square feet (2,600 m2) of exhibition space related the history of crime, and its consequences, in America and American popular culture.[5][6] The museum featured exhibits on colonial crime, pirates, Wild West outlaws, gangsters, the Mob, mass murderers, and white collar criminals. Twenty-eight interactive stations included the high-speed police chase simulators used in the training of law enforcement officers, and a Firearms Training Simulator (F.A.T.S.) similar to that utilized by the FBI.[7]

The galleries

The main floor was devoted to a staged crime scene investigation of a simulated murder. Visitors to the museum were guided through the process of solving the crime through forensic science techniques, including ballistics, blood analysis, fingerprinting and footprinting, and dental and facial reconstruction.[8]

The museum included a mock police station with a booking room, celebrity mug shots, police line-up, lie detector test, prisoners' art, and jail-made weapons and escape tools, and a re-creation of the jail cell of

state prison in Smyrna, Delaware, and an electric chair from the Tennessee State Prison in Nashville which was used for 125 executions.[9]

The crime-fighting gallery drew attention to such notables as founding FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and the legendary law enforcement agent Eliot Ness. It also included the uniforms, firearms, and restraining equipment of law enforcement officers and exhibits on bomb squad and night vision technologies.

America's Most Wanted studio

At one time, the museum also served as the taping facility for

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and McGruff the Crime Dog
, as well as a Cross Match Technologies station for child fingerprinting.

Highlighted attractions

  • CSI Lab: Enter a crime scene and interact to solve the case in a real crime scene lab
  • FBI Agent Training: Practice your aim in a simulated FBI shooting range
  • High Speed Police Simulator: Drive in a police academy training pursuit
  • Authentic Artifacts: Auxiliary, electric chair, gas chamber, prison art, and jail cells
  • Notorious Criminals: Legendary pirates, the mob, Wild West outlaws, and serial killers
  • Digital Fingerprinting for Children With Printout ID Cards
  • America's Most Wanted Stage Set and John Walsh Interactive

Gallery

  • Pirates Gallery
    Pirates Gallery
  • Wild West Shooting Gallery
    Wild West Shooting Gallery
  • Serial Killers Gallery
    Serial Killers Gallery
  • America's Most Wanted Television Studio
    America's Most Wanted Television Studio
  • Crime and the Media Gallery
    Crime and the Media Gallery
  • Mock crime scene
    Mock crime scene
  • CSI footprints
    CSI footprints
  • CSI Reconstruction Techniques
    CSI Reconstruction Techniques
  • The CSI Experience
    The CSI Experience
  • An electric chair
    An electric chair
  • Harley Davidson police motorcycle
    Harley Davidson police motorcycle
  • A jail cell
    A jail cell
  • Staircase in the museum
    Staircase in the museum
  • John Walsh filming a segment for America's Most Wanted
    John Walsh filming a segment for America's Most Wanted
  • Serial killer Ted Bundy's 1968 Volkswagen Beetle
    Serial killer Ted Bundy's 1968 Volkswagen Beetle
  • Ted Kaczynski's Bible
    Ted Kaczynski's Bible

References

  1. ^ Wire, Sarah D. (May 16, 2008). "Crime Museum opening in D.C." Los Angeles Times.
  2. ^ a b Cooper, Rachel. "Crime Museum in Washington, DC". about.com. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  3. American Association of Museums. Archived from the original
    on 2010-05-01. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
  4. ^ Stein, P. (August 31, 2015). Crime museum is closing at the end of September. Washington Post archive, retrieved February 22, 2016.
  5. Washington Post
    .
  6. ^ Hemmerdinger, Jonathan (June 5, 2008). "Where crime is considered history". The National. Archived from the original on 2008-10-06. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  7. ^ Wire, Sarah D. (July 13, 2008). "Law enforcement takes spotlight at D.C. museum". Los Angeles Times.[dead link]
  8. ^ McKay, Gretchen (July 6, 2008). "Crime, punishment court travelers to D.C. museum". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  9. Washington Post
    .
  10. ^ Keveney, Bill (May 19, 2008). "'America's Most Wanted' hits a milestone". USA Today.

External links

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