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George W. Wickersham

Did You Know . . .

Police officials at first angrily denounced the Wickersham findings on police misconduct such as forced confessions through brutal physical force and not letting suspects have access to lawyers. Wickersham reported that most police misconduct was directed toward the poor, minorities, labor activists, and political radicals. Police reform was now a national issue to be addressed throughout the following decades.
As a result of the attention drawn to the Prohibition by the reports, many of the other meaningful recommendations had to wait until Prohibition officially ended in 1933.
The Wickersham Commission set the foundation for the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice in the mid-1960s, known as the President's Crime Commission.