II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1369 

To establish an Unsolved Crimes Section in the Civil Rights Division of 

the Department of Justice. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 1, 2005 

Mr. TALENT (for himself, Mr. DODD, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. 

COCHRAN, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. COLEMAN, Mrs. DOLE, Mr. DEWINE, Mr. 

GRAHAM, Mr. KERRY, Mr. KYL, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. NELSON of Florida, 

Mr. LOTT, Mr. SANTORUM, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. SUNUNU, 

Ms. SNOWE, Mr. SMITH, and Mr. MCCONNELL) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To establish an Unsolved Crimes Section in the Civil Rights 

Division of the Department of Justice.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Unsolved Civil Rights 

5 Crime Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that all authorities with 

8 jurisdiction, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
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1 and other entities within the Department of Justice, 

2 should— 

3 (1) expeditiously investigate unsolved civil 

4 rights murders, due to the amount of time that has 

5 passed since the murders and the age of potential 

6 witnesses; and 

7 (2) provide all the resources necessary to ensure 

8 timely and thorough investigations in the cases in9 volved. 

10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

11 In this Act: 

12 (1) CHIEF.—The term ‘‘Chief’’ means the Chief 

13 of the Section. 

14 (2) CRIMINAL CIVIL RIGHTS STATUTES.—The 

15 term ‘‘criminal civil rights statutes’’ means— 

16 (A) section 241 of title 18, United States 

17 Code (relating to conspiracy against rights); 

18 (B) section 242 of title 18, United States 

19 Code (relating to deprivation of rights under 

20 color of law); 

21 (C) section 245 of title 18, United States 

22 Code (relating to federally protected activities); 

23 (D) sections 1581 and 1584 of title 18, 

24 United States Code (relating to involuntary ser25 vitude and peonage); 
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1 (E) section 901 of the Fair Housing Act 

2 (42 U.S.C. 3631); and 

3 (F) any other Federal law that— 

4 (i) was in effect on or before Decem5 ber 31, 1969; and 

6 (ii) the Criminal Section of the Civil 

7 Rights Division of the Department of Jus8 tice enforced, prior to the date of enact9 ment of this Act. 

10 (3) SECTION.—The term ‘‘Section’’ (except 

11 when used as part of the term ‘‘Criminal Section’’) 

12 means the Unsolved Crimes Section established 

13 under section 4. 

14 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF SECTION. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the Civil 

16 Rights Division of the Department of Justice an Unsolved 

17 Crimes Section. The Section shall be headed by a Chief 

18 of the Section. 

19 (b) RESPONSIBILITY.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

21 provision of Federal law, the Chief shall be respon22 sible for investigating and prosecuting violations of 

23 criminal civil rights statutes, in each case in which 

24 a complaint alleges that such a violation— 
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1 (A) occurred not later than December 31, 

2 1969; and 

3 (B) resulted in a death. 

4 (2) COORDINATION.—After investigating a com5 plaint under paragraph (1), if the Chief determines 

6 that an alleged practice that is a violation of a crimi7 nal civil rights statute occurred in a State, or polit8 ical subdivision of a State, that has a State or local 

9 law prohibiting the practice alleged and establishing 

10 or authorizing a State or local official to grant or 

11 seek relief from such practice or to institute criminal 

12 proceedings with respect to the practice on receiving 

13 notice of the practice, the Chief shall consult with 

14 the State or local official regarding the appropriate 

15 venue for the case involved. 

16 (3) REFERRAL.—After investigating a com17 plaint under paragraph (1), the Chief shall refer the 

18 complaint to the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights 

19 Division, if the Chief determines that the subject of 

20 the complaint has violated a criminal civil rights 

21 statute in the case involved but the violation does 

22 not meet the requirements of subparagraph (A) or 

23 (B) of paragraph (1). 

24 (c) STUDY AND REPORT.— 
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1 (1) STUDY.—The Chief shall annually conduct 

2 a study of the cases under the jurisdiction of the 

3 Chief and, in conducting the study, shall determine 

4 the cases— 

5 (A) for which the Chief has sufficient evi6 dence to prosecute violations of criminal civil 

7 rights statutes; and 

8 (B) for which the Chief has insufficient 

9 evidence to prosecute those violations. 

10 (2) REPORT.—Not later than September 30 of 

11 2006 and of each subsequent year, the Chief shall 

12 prepare and submit to Congress a report containing 

13 the results of the study conducted under paragraph 

14 (1), including a description of the cases described in 

15 paragraph (1)(B). 

16 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

17 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to 

18 be appropriated to carry out this section $5,000,000 

19 for fiscal year 2006 and each subsequent fiscal year. 

20 (2) ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS.—Any funds 

21 appropriated under this subsection shall consist of 

22 additional appropriations for the activities described 

23 in this section, rather than funds made available 

24 through reductions in the appropriations authorized 
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1 for other enforcement activities of the Department 

2 of Justice.

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