Wickersham Commission Research Paper

The Wickersham Commission The U.S. National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement is widely known as the Wickersham Commission. It was named after a former U.S. Attorney General George W. Wickersham, who was selected as chairperson by President Herbert Hoover in May, 1929. The Commissions’ goals were to find out the causes and costs of crime, how federal were courts functioning, lawlessness in the criminal justice system, and to evaluate the Prohibition, as it existed under the 18th Amendment. In May 1929, President Hoover appointed George W. Wickersham, to head an 11-member Law Observance and Enforcement Commission to study the effects of the amendment and to make recommendations. To completely understand the state of crime and criminal justice in the United States during 1920 to 1930, the Wickersham Commission used reports of investigators, statements of Officials, surveys, letters in answer to questionnaires, and many other factors. Their conclusions were published in fourteen volumes in 1931 and 1932. The research covered everything about the history of the prohibition on alcohol and the cause and effects of it such as organized crime, corruption in government agencies, and illegal importation in to the U.S. from Canada and France.
According to a statement made by Paul McCormick, member of the committee, the criminal justice system is “inadequate”. He also stated that, “More improvement is needed before they can be said to be sufficient and before any in dubious conclusion can be reached as to whether the 18th Amendment can be nationally enforced.” The Wickersham commission highlighted the importance of a well educated police force by calling for educationally sound officers (Schmalleger 3). This was the start to police reform as people had a firsthand look at the overwhelming evidence of police