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

criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

and penology in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It was located in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, half a block south of the Gallery Place station. The museum closed in 2015 and is now operated as

Alcatraz East Alcatraz East is a privately owned for-profit crime museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Opened in 2016, it was formerly operated as the National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington, D.C. The museum gives a behind-the-scenes look at crime ...

, a museum in

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee Pigeon Forge is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 6,343. Situated just 5 miles (8 km) north of Great Smoky Mountains National Par ...

. The museum was built by Orlando businessman John Morgan, in partnership with John Walsh, host of ''

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...

'', at a cost of $21 million, and opened in May 2008. Unlike most museums in Washington, DC, the Crime Museum was a for-profit enterprise. It was forced to close in September 2015 by its building's owners after it failed to meet sales targets specified in its lease. More than 700 artifacts in of exhibition space related the history of crime, and its consequences, in America and American popular culture. 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 The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

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 Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal ...

techniques, including ballistics, blood analysis, fingerprinting and footprinting, and dental and facial reconstruction. 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

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...

at the Eastern State Penitentiary in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. A capital punishment room offered a re-creation of a guillotine and gas chamber, along with an authentic lethal injection machine from the state prison in Smyrna, Delaware, and an electric chair from the

Tennessee State Prison Tennessee State Prison is a former correctional facility located six miles west of downtown Nashville, Tennessee on Cockrill Bend. It opened in 1898 and has been closed since 1992 because of overcrowding concerns. The mothballed facility was seve ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

which was used for 125 executions. The crime-fighting gallery drew attention to such notables as founding FBI Director

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation ...

, and the legendary law enforcement agent

Eliot Ness Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 – May 16, 1957) was an American Prohibition agent known for his efforts to bring down Al Capone and enforce Prohibition in Chicago. He was the leader of a team of law enforcement agents, nicknamed The Untouchables. H ...

. 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

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

's ''

'' beginning in 2008, which recorded during its first run in studios throughout the Capital Region. When the series switched to on-location shooting, the studio was converted into an interactive exhibit where visitors could solve a hypothetical crime. Surrounding the studio were exhibits on the

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a private, nonprofit organization established in 1984 by the United States Congress. In September 2013, the United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, and the Pres ...

and

McGruff the Crime Dog McGruff the Crime Dog is an anthropomorphic animated bloodhound created by Dancer Fitzgerald Sample advertising executive Jack Keil (who also voiced the character) through the Ad Council and later the National Crime Prevention Council to increase ...

, 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

File:Pirates Gallery.jpg, Pirates Gallery File:Wild West Shooting Gallery.jpg, Wild West Shooting Gallery File: Death Car.jpg, Bonnie and Clyde Death Car File: Gallery.jpg, Mob Gallery File:Serial Killers Gallery.jpg, Serial Killers Gallery File:Americas Most Wanted Studio.jpg, America's Most Wanted Television Studio File:Crime Media NMCP.jpg, Crime and the Media Gallery File:Crime Scene NMCP.jpg, Mock crime scene File:CSI Footprints NMCP.jpg, CSI footprints File:CSI Reconstruction NMCP.jpg, CSI Reconstruction Techniques File:CSI Experience NMCP.jpg, The CSI Experience File:Electric Chair NMCP.jpg, An electric chair File:Harley Police Motorcycle NMCP.jpg, Harley Davidson police motorcycle File:Jail Cell NMCP.jpg, A jail cell File:Staircase NMCP.jpg, Staircase in the museum File:John Walsh filming a segment for America's Most Wanted.jpg, John Walsh filming a segment for America's Most Wanted File:Ted Bundy Volkswagen.jpg, Serial killer Ted Bundy's 1968

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...

File:National Crime Museum (9) (19160492756).jpg,

Ted Kaczynski Theodore John Kaczynski ( ; born May 22, 1942), also known as the Unabomber (), is an American domestic terrorist and former mathematics professor. Between 1978 and 1995, Kaczynski killed three people and injured 23 others in a nationwide ...

's Bible

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:National Museum Of Crime and Punishment 2008 establishments in Washington, D.C. 2015 disestablishments in Washington, D.C. Museums established in 2008 Museums disestablished in 2015 Defunct museums in Washington, D.C. History museums in Washington, D.C. Law enforcement museums in the United States Prison museums in the United States Crime museums Penn Quarter