II 

Calendar No. 211 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 535 

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

the Department of Justice, and an Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Investigative Office in the Civil Rights Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2007 

Mr. DODD (for himself, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. SCHUMER, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mrs. 

MCCASKILL, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. SPECTER, Mr. HATCH, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. 

CORNYN, Mr. BIDEN, and Mr. OBAMA) introduced the following bill; 

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

JUNE 20, 2007 

Reported by Mr. LEAHY, with an amendment and an amendment to the title 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

A BILL 

To establish an Unsolved Crimes Section in the Civil Rights 

Division of the Department of Justice, and an Unsolved 

Civil Rights Crime Investigative Office in the Civil Rights 

Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 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, 

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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emmett Till Unsolved 

3 Civil Rights Crime Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 It is the sense of Congress that all authorities with 

6 jurisdiction, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation 

7 and other entities within the Department of Justice, 

8 should— 

9 (1) expeditiously investigate unsolved civil 

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

11 passed since the murders and the age of potential 

12 witnesses; and 

13 (2) provide all the resources necessary to ensure 

14 timely and thorough investigations in the cases in15 volved. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) CHIEF INVESTIGATOR.—The term ‘‘Chief 

19 Investigator’’ means the Chief Investigator of the 

20 Unit. 

21 (2) CRIMINAL CIVIL RIGHTS STATUTES.—The 

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

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

24 Code (relating to conspiracy against rights); 

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

2 Code (relating to deprivation of rights under 

3 color of law); 

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

5 Code (relating to federally protected activities); 

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

7 United States Code (relating to involuntary ser8 vitude and peonage); 

9 (E) section 901 of the Fair Housing Act 

10 (42 U.S.C. 3631); and 

11 (F) any other Federal law that— 

12 (i) was in effect on or before Decem13 ber 31, 1969; and 

14 (ii) the Criminal Section of the Civil 

15 Rights Division of the Department of Jus16 tice enforced, prior to the date of enact17 ment of this Act. 

18 (3) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the 

19 Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Investigative Office es20 tablished under section 5. 

21 (4) DEPUTY.—The term ‘‘Deputy’’ means the 

22 Deputy for the Unsolved Civil Rights Era Crimes 

23 Unit. 

24 (5) UNIT.—The term ‘‘Unit’’ (except when used 

25 as part of the term ‘‘Criminal Section’’) means the 

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1 Unsolved Civil Rights Era Crimes Unit established 

2 under section 4. 

3 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF SECTION IN CIVIL RIGHTS DI4 VISION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the Crimi6 nal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department 

7 of Justice an Unsolved Civil Rights Era Crimes Unit. The 

8 Unit shall be headed by a Deputy for the Unsolved Civil 

9 Rights Era Crimes Unit. 

10 (b) RESPONSIBILITY.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

12 provision of Federal law, and except as provided in 

13 section 5, the Deputy shall be responsible for inves14 tigating and prosecuting violations of criminal civil 

15 rights statutes, in cases in which a complaint alleges 

16 that such a violation— 

17 (A) occurred not later than December 31, 

18 1969; and 

19 (B) resulted in a death. 

20 (2) COORDINATION.— 

21 (A) INVESTIGATIVE ACTIVITIES.—In inves22 tigating a complaint under paragraph (1), the 

23 Deputy shall coordinate investigative activities 

24 with State and local law enforcement officials. 

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1 (B) VENUE.—After investigating a com2 plaint under paragraph (1), or receiving a re3 port of an investigation conducted under section 

4 5, if the Deputy determines that an alleged 

5 practice that is a violation of a criminal civil 

6 rights statute occurred in a State, or political 

7 subdivision of a State, that has a State or local 

8 law prohibiting the practice alleged and estab9 lishing or authorizing a State or local law en10 forcement official to grant or seek relief from 

11 such practice or to institute criminal pro12 ceedings with respect to the practice on receiv13 ing notice of the practice, the Deputy shall con14 sult with the official regarding the appropriate 

15 venue for the case involved. 

16 (3) REFERRAL.—After investigating a com17 plaint under paragraph (1), or receiving a report of 

18 an investigation conducted under section 5, the Dep19 uty shall refer the complaint to the Criminal Section 

20 of the Civil Rights Division, if the Deputy deter21 mines that the subject of the complaint has violated 

22 a criminal civil rights statute in the case involved 

23 but the violation does not meet the requirements of 

24 subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1). 

25 (c) STUDY AND REPORT.— 

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1 (1) STUDY.—The Deputy shall annually con2 duct a study of the cases under the jurisdiction of 

3 the Deputy or under the jurisdiction of the Chief In4 vestigator and, in conducting the study, shall deter5 mine the cases— 

6 (A) for which the Deputy has sufficient 

7 evidence to prosecute violations of criminal civil 

8 rights statutes; and 

9 (B) for which the Deputy has insufficient 

10 evidence to prosecute those violations. 

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

12 2007 and of each subsequent year, the Deputy shall 

13 prepare and submit to Congress a report containing 

14 the results of the study conducted under paragraph 

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

16 paragraph (1)(B). 

17 SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE IN FEDERAL BUREAU 

18 OF INVESTIGATION. 

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

20 Rights Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the 

21 Department of Justice an Unsolved Civil Rights Crime In22 vestigative Office. The Office shall be headed by a Deputy 

23 Investigator. 

24 (b) RESPONSIBILITY.— 

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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with an 

2 agreement established between the Deputy Investi3 gator and the Deputy, the Deputy Investigator shall 

4 be responsible for investigating violations of criminal 

5 civil rights statutes, in cases described in section 

6 4(b). 

7 (2) COORDINATION.— 

8 (A) INVESTIGATIVE ACTIVITIES.—In inves9 tigating a complaint under paragraph (1), the 

10 Deputy Investigator shall coordinate the inves11 tigative activities with State and local law en12 forcement officials. 

13 (B) REFERRAL.—After investigating a 

14 complaint under paragraph (1), the Deputy In15 vestigator shall— 

16 (i) determine whether the subject of 

17 the complaint has violated a criminal 

18 rights statute in the case involved; and 

19 (ii) refer the complaint to the Deputy, 

20 together with a report containing the de21 termination and the results of the inves22 tigation. 

23 (C) RESOURCES.—The Federal Bureau of 

24 Investigation, in coordination with the Depart25 ment of Justice, Civil Rights Division, shall 

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1 have discretion to re-allocate investigative per2 sonnel to jurisdictions to carry out the goals of 

3 this section. 

4 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro6 priated to carry out this Act $10,000,000 for fiscal year 

7 2008 and each subsequent fiscal year through 2017. 

8 These funds shall be allocated by the Attorney General 

9 to the Unsolved Civil Rights Era Crime Unit of the De10 partment of Justice and the Civil Rights Unit of the Fed11 eral Bureau of Investigation in order to advance the pur12 poses set forth in this Act. 

13 (b) ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS.—Any funds ap14 propriated under this section shall consist of additional ap15 propriations for the activities described in this Act, rather 

16 than funds made available through reductions in the ap17 propriations authorized for other enforcement activities of 

18 the Department of Justice. 

19 (c) COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE DE20 PARTMENT OF JUSTICE.—In addition to any amounts au21 thorized to be appropriated under title XI of the Civil 

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

23 authorized to be appropriated to the Community Relations 

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

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

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1 Service (in carrying out the functions described in title 

2 X of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000g et seq.)) to provide tech3 nical assistance by bringing together law enforcement 

4 agencies and communities in the investigation of violations 

5 of criminal civil rights statutes, in cases described in sec6 tion 4(b). 

7 SEC. 7. SUNSET. 

8 Sections 1 through 6 of this Act shall expire at the 

9 end of fiscal year 2017. 

10 SEC. 8. AUTHORITY OF INSPECTORS GENERAL. 

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

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

13 the following: 

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

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

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

17 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) may authorize staff to assist the 

18 National Center for Missing and Exploited Children— 

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

20 to develop recommendations for further investiga21 tions; and 

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

23 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.— 

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

25 permit staff to engage in activities described in submstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 section (a) if such activities will interfere with the 

2 duties of the Inspector General under the Inspector 

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

4 ‘‘(2) FUNDING.—No additional funds are au5 thorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec6 tion.’’. 

7 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

8 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emmett Till Unsolved 

9 Civil Rights Crime Act’’. 

10 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

11 It is the sense of Congress that all authorities with ju12 risdiction, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation 

13 and other entities within the Department of Justice, 

14 should— 

15 (1) expeditiously investigate unsolved civil rights 

16 murders, due to the amount of time that has passed 

17 since the murders and the age of potential witnesses; 

18 and 

19 (2) provide all the resources necessary to ensure 

20 timely and thorough investigations in the cases in21 volved. 

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1 SEC. 3. DEPUTY CHIEF IN THE CRIMINAL SECTION OF THE 

2 CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall des4 ignate a Deputy Chief in the Criminal Section of the Civil 

5 Rights Division of the Department of Justice. 

6 (b) RESPONSIBILITY.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Deputy Chief shall be re8 sponsible for investigating, prosecuting, and coordi9 nating the investigation and prosecution of violations 

10 of criminal civil rights statutes, in cases in which a 

11 complaint alleges that such a violation occurred not 

12 later than December 31, 1969, and resulted in a 

13 death. 

14 (2) COORDINATION.—In investigating a com15 plaint under paragraph (1), the Deputy Chief may 

16 coordinate investigative activities with State and 

17 local law enforcement officials. 

18 (c) STUDY AND REPORT.— 

19 (1) STUDY.—The Attorney General shall annu20 ally conduct a study of the cases under the jurisdic21 tion of the Deputy Chief or under the jurisdiction of 

22 the Supervisory Special Agent described in section 4 

23 and, in conducting the study, shall determine— 

24 (A) the number of open investigations with25 in the Department of Justice of violations of 

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1 criminal civil rights statutes described in sub2 section (b)(1); 

3 (B) the number of cases described in sub4 section (b)(1)— 

5 (i) for the first study under this sub6 section, that were opened pursuant to this 

7 Act since the date of enactment of this Act; 

8 and 

9 (ii) for each subsequent study, that 

10 were opened pursuant to this Act since the 

11 previous study under this subsection; 

12 (C) the number of unsealed Federal cases 

13 involving such violations for which charges were 

14 filed within the study period, and the case 

15 names, the jurisdictions in which the charges 

16 were filed, and the dates the charges were filed; 

17 (D)(i) the number of cases involving such 

18 violations that were referred by the Department 

19 of Justice to a State or local law enforcement 

20 agency or prosecutor within the study period, the 

21 number of such cases that resulted in State or 

22 local charges being filed, the jurisdictions in 

23 which the charges were filed, and the dates the 

24 charges were filed; and 

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1 (ii) the case names for any unsealed Federal 

2 cases in which actions by State and local law en3 forcement officials have left demonstratively 

4 unvindicated the Federal interest in the inves5 tigation and prosecution of incidents relating to 

6 criminal civil rights statutes, and the reasons for 

7 any related decisions by Federal officials not to 

8 coordinate investigation and prosecution with 

9 the State and local officials; 

10 (E) the number of cases involving such vio11 lations that were closed within the study period 

12 without Federal prosecution, the case names of 

13 such cases that were unsealed Federal cases, the 

14 dates the cases described in this subparagraph 

15 were closed, and the relevant Federal statutes; 

16 (F) the number of attorneys who worked, in 

17 whole or in part, on any case described in sub18 section (b)(1); and 

19 (G) the number of applications submitted 

20 for grants under section 5, the number of awards 

21 of such grants, and the purposes for which the 

22 grant amounts were expended. 

23 (2) REPORT.—Not later than the day that is 6 

24 months after the date of enactment of this Act, and 

25 that day of each year thereafter, the Attorney General 

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1 shall prepare and submit to Congress a report con2 taining the results of the study conducted under para3 graph (1). 

4 SEC. 4. SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT IN THE CIVIL 

5 RIGHTS UNIT OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF 

6 INVESTIGATION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall des8 ignate a Supervisory Special Agent in the Civil Rights 

9 Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the Depart10 ment of Justice. 

11 (b) RESPONSIBILITY.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Supervisory Special 

13 Agent shall be responsible for investigating violations 

14 of criminal civil rights statutes, in cases described in 

15 section 3(b)(1). 

16 (2) COORDINATION.—In investigating a com17 plaint under paragraph (1), the Supervisory Special 

18 Agent may coordinate the investigative activities with 

19 State and local law enforcement officials. 

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

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may award 

22 grants to State or local law enforcement agencies for ex23 penses associated with the investigation and prosecution of 

24 violations of State or local laws that are similar to the Fed25 eral criminal civil rights statutes. 

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1 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

2 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

3 $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2017. 

4 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro6 priated to the Attorney General, for the purpose of carrying 

7 out the activities described in sections 3 and 4, in addition 

8 to any other another amounts authorized to be appropriated 

9 for that purpose, $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 

10 through 2017. The Attorney General shall allocate funds de11 scribed in this subsection to the Deputy Chief described in 

12 section 3 and the Supervisory Special Agent described in 

13 section 4 to advance that purpose. 

14 (b) COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE DEPART15 MENT OF JUSTICE.—In addition to any amounts author16 ized to be appropriated under title XI of the Civil Rights 

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

18 to be appropriated to the Community Relations Service of 

19 the Department of Justice $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2008 

20 and each subsequent fiscal year, to enable the Service (in 

21 carrying out the functions described in title X of such Act 

22 (42 U.S.C. 2000g et seq.)) to provide technical assistance 

23 by bringing together law enforcement agencies and commu24 nities in the investigation of violations of criminal civil 

25 rights statutes, in cases described in section 3(b)(1). 

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1 SEC. 7. DEFINITION. 

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

3 means— 

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

5 (relating to conspiracy against rights); 

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

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

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

9 (relating to federally protected activities); 

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

11 States Code (relating to involuntary servitude and pe12 onage); 

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

14 U.S.C. 3631); and 

15 (6) any other Federal law that— 

16 (A) was in effect on or before December 31, 

17 1969; and 

18 (B) the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights 

19 Division of the Department of Justice enforced, 

20 prior to the date of enactment of this Act. 

21 SEC. 8. SUNSET. 

22 Sections 2 through 7 of this Act shall expire at the 

23 end of fiscal year 2017. 

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1 SEC. 9. AUTHORITY OF INSPECTORS GENERAL. 

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

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

4 following: 

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

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

7 under section 3 or 8G of the Inspector General Act of 1978 

8 (5 U.S.C. App.) may authorize staff to assist the National 

9 Center for Missing and Exploited Children— 

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

11 to develop recommendations for further investigations; 

12 and 

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

14 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.— 

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

16 permit staff to engage in activities described in sub17 section (a) if such activities will interfere with the 

18 duties of the Inspector General under the Inspector 

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

20 ‘‘(2) FUNDING.—No additional funds are author21 ized to be appropriated to carry out this section.’’. 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to provide for 

the investigation of certain unsolved civil rights crimes, 

and for other purposes.’’. 

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Calendar No. 211 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 535 

A BILL 

To establish an Unsolved Crimes Section in the 

purposes. Federal Bureau of Investigation, and for other tigative Office in the Civil Rights Unit of the tice, and an Unsolved Civil Rights Crime InvesCivil Rights Division of the Department of JusJUNE 20, 2007 

Reported with an amendment and an amendment to the 

title 

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