II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3430 

To provide for the investigation of certain unsolved civil rights crimes, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2008 

Mr. COBURN introduced the following bill; which was read the first time 

A BILL 

To provide for the investigation of certain unsolved civil 

rights crimes, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Emmett Till Unsolved 

5 Civil Rights Crime Act of 2008’’. 

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 

9 and other entities within the Department of Justice, 

10 should— 


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1 (1) expeditiously investigate unsolved civil 

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

3 passed since the murders and the age of potential 

4 witnesses; and 

5 (2) provide all the resources necessary to ensure 

6 timely and thorough investigations in the cases in7 volved. 

8 SEC. 3. DEPUTY CHIEF OF THE CRIMINAL SECTION OF THE 

9 CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall des11 ignate a Deputy Chief in the Criminal Section of the Civil 

12 Rights Division of the Department of Justice (in this Act 

13 referred to as the ‘‘Deputy Chief’’). 

14 (b) RESPONSIBILITY.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Deputy Chief shall be 

16 responsible for coordinating the investigation and 

17 prosecution of violations of criminal civil rights stat18 utes that occurred not later than December 31, 

19 1969, and resulted in a death. 

20 (2) COORDINATION.—In investigating a com21 plaint under paragraph (1), the Deputy Chief may 

22 coordinate investigative activities with State and 

23 local law enforcement officials. 

24 (c) STUDY AND REPORT.— 


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1 (1) STUDY.—The Attorney General shall annu2 ally conduct a study of the cases under the jurisdic3 tion of the Deputy Chief or under the jurisdiction of 

4 the Supervisory Special Agent and, in conducting 

5 the study, shall determine— 

6 (A) the number of open investigations 

7 within the Department of Justice for violations 

8 of criminal civil rights statutes that occurred 

9 not later than December 31, 1969; 

10 (B) the number of new cases opened pur11 suant to this Act since the most recent study 

12 conducted under this paragraph; 

13 (C) the number of unsealed Federal cases 

14 charged within the study period, including the 

15 case names, the jurisdiction in which the 

16 charges were brought, and the date the charges 

17 were filed; 

18 (D) the number of cases referred by the 

19 Department of Justice to a State or local law 

20 enforcement agency or prosecutor within the 

21 study period, the number of such cases that re22 sulted in State charges being filed, the jurisdic23 tion in which such charges were filed, the date 

24 the charges were filed, and if a jurisdiction deVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:47 Aug 06, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3430.IS S3430

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1 clines to prosecute or participate in an inves2 tigation of a case so referred, the fact it did so; 

3 (E) the number of cases within the study 

4 period that were closed without Federal pros5 ecution, the case names of unsealed Federal 

6 cases, the dates the cases were closed, and the 

7 relevant Federal statutes; 

8 (F) the number of attorneys who worked, 

9 in whole or in part, on any case described in 

10 subsection (b)(1); and 

11 (G) the applications submitted for grants 

12 under section 5, the award of such grants, and 

13 the purposes for which the grant amount were 

14 expended. 

15 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 

16 the date of enactment of this Act, and every 12 

17 months thereafter, the Attorney General shall pre18 pare and submit to Congress a report containing the 

19 results of the study conducted under paragraph (1). 

20 SEC. 4. SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT IN THE CIVIL 

21 RIGHTS UNIT OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF 

22 INVESTIGATION. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall des24 ignate a Supervisory Special Agent in the Civil Rights 

25 Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the DepartVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:47 Aug 06, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3430.IS S3430

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1 ment of Justice (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Super2 visory Special Agent’’). 

3 (b) RESPONSIBILITY.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Supervisory Special 

5 Agent shall be responsible for investigating viola6 tions of criminal civil rights statutes that occurred 

7 not later than December 31, 1969, and resulted in 

8 a death. 

9 (2) COORDINATION.—In investigating a com10 plaint under paragraph (1), the Supervisory Special 

11 Agent may coordinate the investigative activities 

12 with State and local law enforcement officials. 

13 SEC. 5. GRANTS TO STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may make 

15 grants to State or local law enforcement agencies for ex16 penses associated with the investigation and prosecution 

17 of criminal offenses, involving civil rights, that occurred 

18 not later than December 31, 1969, and resulted in a 

19 death. 

20 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 are authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 for each of 

22 fiscal years 2008 through 2017 to carry out this section. 

23 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro25 priated, in addition to any other amounts otherwise auVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:47 Aug 06, 2008 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3430.IS S3430

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1 thorized to be appropriated for this purpose, to the Attor2 ney General $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 

3 through 2017 for investigating and prosecuting violations 

4 of criminal civil rights statutes that occurred not later 

5 than December 31, 1969, and resulted in a death. 

6 Amounts appropriated pursuant to this subsection shall 

7 be allocated by the Attorney General to the Deputy Chief 

8 and the Supervisory Special Agent in order to advance the 

9 purposes set forth in this Act. 

10 (b) COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE DE11 PARTMENT OF JUSTICE.—In addition to any amounts au12 thorized to be appropriated under title XI of the Civil 

13 Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000h et seq.), there are 

14 authorized to be appropriated to the Community Relations 

15 Service of the Department of Justice $1,500,000 for fiscal 

16 year 2008 and each subsequent fiscal year, to enable the 

17 Community Relations Service (in carrying out the func18 tions described in title X of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000g 

19 et seq.)) to provide technical assistance by bringing to20 gether law enforcement agencies and communities in the 

21 investigation of violations of criminal civil rights statutes, 

22 in cases described in section 4(b). 

23 SEC. 7. DEFINITION OF CRIMINAL CIVIL RIGHTS STATUTES. 

24 In this Act, the term ‘‘criminal civil rights statutes’’ 

25 means— 


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1 (1) section 241 of title 18, United States Code 

2 (relating to conspiracy against rights); 

3 (2) section 242 of title 18, United States Code 

4 (relating to deprivation of rights under color of law); 

5 (3) section 245 of title 18, United States Code 

6 (relating to federally protected activities); 

7 (4) sections 1581 and 1584 of title 18, United 

8 States Code (relating to involuntary servitude and 

9 peonage); 

10 (5) section 901 of the Fair Housing Act (42 

11 U.S.C. 3631); and 

12 (6) any other Federal law that— 

13 (A) was in effect on or before December 

14 31, 1969; and 

15 (B) the Criminal Section of the Civil 

16 Rights Division of the Department of Justice 

17 enforced, before the date of enactment of this 

18 Act. 

19 SEC. 8. SUNSET. 

20 Sections 2 through 6 of this Act shall cease to have 

21 force or effect at the end of fiscal year 2017. 

22 SEC. 9. AUTHORITY OF INSPECTORS GENERAL. 

23 Title XXXVII of the Crime Control Act of 1990 (42 

24 U.S.C. 5779 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

25 the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 3703. AUTHORITY OF INSPECTORS GENERAL. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An Inspector General appointed 

3 under section 3 or 8G of the Inspector General Act of 

4 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) may authorize staff to assist the 

5 National Center for Missing and Exploited Children— 

6 ‘‘(1) by conducting reviews of inactive case files 

7 to develop recommendations for further investiga8 tions; and 

9 ‘‘(2) by engaging in similar activities. 

10 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) PRIORITY.—An Inspector General may not 

12 permit staff to engage in activities described in sub13 section (a) if such activities will interfere with the 

14 duties of the Inspector General under the Inspector 

15 General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.). 

16 ‘‘(2) FUNDING.—No additional funds are au17 thorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec18 tion.’’. 

19 SEC. 10. USE OF RESOURCES. 

20 For any fiscal year in which Congress does not pro21 vide funding to carry out this Act at the levels authorized, 

22 the Attorney General shall give priority to allocating 

23 amounts to carry out this Act in allocating amounts ap24 propriated for the Department of Justice— 


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1 (1) under the heading ‘‘SALARIES AND EX2 PENSES, GENERAL LEGAL ACTIVITIES’’ under the 

3 heading ‘‘LEGAL ACTIVITIES’’; 

4 (2) under the heading ‘‘SALARIES AND EX5 PENSES, COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE’’ under 

6 the heading ‘‘UNITED STATES MARSHALS SERV7 ICE’’; and 

8 (3) under the heading ‘‘SALARIES AND EX9 PENSES’’ under the heading ‘‘FEDERAL BUREAU OF

10 INVESTIGATION’’. 

Æ 


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