Cornwell Donates to John Jay College

I am starting to come to the conclusion that Patricia Cornwell is the Upton Sinclair of the criminal justice system. Because whatever the opinion is on her current books, there’s no question she’s crusading about forensic science practice the way Sinclair did about workplace conditions. Now comes this piece of news about my alma mater:

Patricia Cornwell is donating $1 million to a top criminal justice college for a new academy to teach CSI techniques.

The best-selling novelist said she’s taking action because she’s appalled by what she’s seen at crime scene investigations. “I’ve

seen cops walk through blood. I’ve seen them leave their own

fingerprints on a window,” Cornwell said in an interview Friday. “I’ve

seen bloody clothing put in a plastic bag, instead of a paper bag, so

it decomposes.”

Her funding will help start the Crime Scene

Academy at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, set to open

this fall with training in DNA typing, fingerprint enhancement

techniques, ballistics and forensic psychology.

$1 million only goes so far, but it’s a good start nonetheless. I just hope the money is matched, and then some, by private and public funding.