What drives public beliefs about the credibility of a scientific field? This question is increasingly important with recent discussion of a ‘reproducibility crisis’ affecting many fields. It is also important in forensic science, a discipline that has experienced severe scrutiny from both the media and large oversight bodies. This article makes three contributions to this discussion. It brings together several studies in which laypeople were asked about the reliability of forensic science practices, indicating that public beliefs about forensic science may be affected by recent criticisms. It then reviews three empirically-tested ways, all centred around transparency and openness, that other fields are dealing with their own crises. Finally, it makes recommendations for how forensic science can leverage transparency and openness to improve and maintain its long-term credibility. Part of analysis supports the recent experience of the Houston Forensic Science Center and its anecdotal claims of improved credibility by connecting it to empirical research.