What was the 1931 National Commission on law observance and enforcement popularly known as?

• A. Wickersham Commission
• B. Kerner Commission
• C. Kefauver Commission
• D. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

Answer: (A)

The name most associated with the 1931 National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement is the Wickersham Commission. It was led by former U.S. Attorney General George W. Wickersham, and its work focused on policing, Prohibition enforcement, judicial processes, and prison conditions. The commission’s findings and its famous report called for professionalizing and reforming police practices, reducing corruption, and modernizing the criminal justice system. Those recommendations helped shape later policing and criminal justice reforms in the United States.

The other bodies mentioned were different investigations with distinct purposes: the Kerner Commission studied race relations and urban riots in the 1960s; the Kefauver Commission examined organized crime in the 1950s; and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights was established in the 1950s to study civil rights enforcement.