Advancing justice through hands-on training 

At Cedar Crest College, we are proud to introduce the Joni Berner, Esq. ’75 Expert Witness Training Center. The Center is a state-of-the-art facility created to support Forensic Science students with backing from the U.S. Department of Justice and the commitment of Cedar Crest’s forensic science program. The Center offers immersive, real-world training environments tailored to today’s critical challenges.  

The high-quality, comprehensive training provided within the Center ensures a collaborative approach to prepare you for the ever-changing needs of forensic science to help grow our criminal justice, legal,  and healthcare communities.  

What Sets Us Apart 

• Realistic Environments — The space includes a courtroom, three flexible crime-scene simulation rooms, a crime lab, and a darkroom designed to replicate actual investigative and judicial settings. 
• Community Collaboration — The Center allows our students to train alongside area professionals to help promote shared understanding and coordinated response. 
• Hands-on experience — Students get to practice under realistic courtroom conditions, execute evidence-collection and preservation drills in reconfigurable simulation rooms, and conduct trace and latent-evidence analysis in the crime lab/darkroom. 

Expert Faculty – Students learn from experts with decades of experience in the field from around the country.

We Prepare You to Serve Effectively 

Whether you are the first to respond to a crime scene, to document, collect, or analyze evidence, or testify in a courtroom, this center gives you the training environment to prepare you for real-world scenarios. 

• Learn how to support victims while preserving critical evidence. 
• Practice advanced forensic analysis techniques in a dedicated lab and darkroom.
• Rehearse expert witness testimony and depositions in the mock courtroom.
• Refine your skills and stay ahead of evolving investigative methods. 
• All rooms are equipped with video cameras to support performance review and coaching through playbacks.