DC's Newest Museum: Crime & Punishment
The new Museum of Crime and Punishment, which opens Friday across the street from the Abe Pollin Arena and the National Portrait Gallery, is another in Washington's growing supply of museums that aspire to be a blend of theme park and TV show. In fact, it's even produced in cooperation with the long-running Fox hit, "America's Most Wanted," which will now be taped in the museum's basement TV studio.
The museum is more fun than annoying. But not by terribly much.
An $18 ticket that promises visitors the opportunity to shoot a gun, drive a police cruiser and appear in a police lineup, the crime museum is to the Smithsonian as "America's Most Wanted" is to "Frontline." Well, let's modify that: There is one branch of the Smithsonian that shares the crime museum's approach--an almost random collection of stray facts and cool finds that tells no coherent or compelling story, but aims only to elicit a "Gee, Martha, look at this" response from the casual visitor.
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The museum is more fun than annoying. But not by terribly much.
An $18 ticket that promises visitors the opportunity to shoot a gun, drive a police cruiser and appear in a police lineup, the crime museum is to the Smithsonian as "America's Most Wanted" is to "Frontline." Well, let's modify that: There is one branch of the Smithsonian that shares the crime museum's approach--an almost random collection of stray facts and cool finds that tells no coherent or compelling story, but aims only to elicit a "Gee, Martha, look at this" response from the casual visitor.