Connecticut set to open forensic museum

Connecticut officials announced yesterday that the state will spend $1 million on a new forensic museum and education center in New Haven. Connected with a lab and training center, the new museum will help educate the public about forensic science and advances in criminal justice through DNA testing. The new center will allow visitors to watch DNA testing in an active lab.

Read more about Connecticut’s announcement

here

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Increased public knowledge about good – and bad – forensic science practices is vital to preventing wrongful convictions. Most of us are potential jurors, and the more we know about forensic practices, the better our criminal justice system will work. Defense attorneys, judges and prosecutors have all raised concerns about the “CSI effect” – where jurors expect the impossible from forensic evidence.

Learn more about how DNA testing has changed the face of forensic science – and about unreliable forensic practices still widely in use.

What can you do to improve forensic testing and oversight in your state?

Tell your state representative that you need funding for crime labs, and oversight to ensure that biological evidence is tested and preserved reliably.