Crime in Miami explored the dual impact of crime and law enforcement in the city of Miami for the past century.
Visitors could:
- Learn about prohibition-era rumrunners and infamous gangsters such as Al Capone, unsolved murder cases of the 1950s and the drug wars of the 1980s.
- Uncover the forces underlying Miami’s unique criminal history and test your amateur detective skills against those used by the pros.
- Use the fingerprint/ID activity to learn how finger prints were examined in the 1920s and 1930s.
- Get your mug shot taken and stand before a two-way mirror to try to identify suspects (other visitors) in a line-up.
Other multi-sensory interactive included a booking station and holding cell, where visitors could experience the claustrophobia of the space, and a display of crime lab equipment and techniques used to solve modern–day crimes.
On display were artifacts, photographs, and documents from the Historical Museum of Southern Florida’s collection along with material from other institutions, including the Miami-Dade County Clerks Office and the City of Miami Black Precinct Museum. First-hand accounts from victims, witnesses, and police investigators captured on video were displayed on monitors throughout the exhibition.
