II 

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 and Mr. LEAHY) 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, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Civil Rights Crime Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that all authorities with 

3 jurisdiction, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation 

4 and other entities within the Department of Justice, 

5 should— 

6 (1) expeditiously investigate unsolved civil 

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

8 passed since the murders and the age of potential 

9 witnesses; and 

10 (2) provide all the resources necessary to ensure 

11 timely and thorough investigations in the cases in12 volved. 

13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act: 

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

16 Investigator’’ means the Chief Investigator of the 

17 Unit. 

18 (2) CRIMINAL CIVIL RIGHTS STATUTES.—The 

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

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

21 Code (relating to conspiracy against rights); 

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

23 Code (relating to deprivation of rights under 

24 color of law); 

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

26 Code (relating to federally protected activities); 

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

2 United States Code (relating to involuntary ser3 vitude and peonage); 

4 (E) section 901 of the Fair Housing Act 

5 (42 U.S.C. 3631); and 

6 (F) any other Federal law that— 

7 (i) was in effect on or before Decem8 ber 31, 1969; and 

9 (ii) the Criminal Section of the Civil 

10 Rights Division of the Department of Jus11 tice enforced, prior to the date of enact12 ment of this Act. 

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

14 Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Investigative Office es15 tablished under section 5. 

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

17 Deputy for the Unsolved Civil Rights Era Crimes 

18 Unit. 

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

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

21 Unsolved Civil Rights Era Crimes Unit established 

22 under section 4. 

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1 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF SECTION IN CIVIL RIGHTS DI2 VISION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established in the Crimi4 nal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department 

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

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

7 Rights Era Crimes Unit. 

8 (b) RESPONSIBILITY.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

10 provision of Federal law, and except as provided in 

11 section 5, the Deputy shall be responsible for inves12 tigating and prosecuting violations of criminal civil 

13 rights statutes, in cases in which a complaint alleges 

14 that such a violation— 

15 (A) occurred not later than December 31, 

16 1969; and 

17 (B) resulted in a death. 

18 (2) COORDINATION.— 

19 (A) INVESTIGATIVE ACTIVITIES.—In inves20 tigating a complaint under paragraph (1), the 

21 Deputy shall coordinate investigative activities 

22 with State and local law enforcement officials. 

23 (B) VENUE.—After investigating a com24 plaint under paragraph (1), or receiving a re25 port of an investigation conducted under section 

26 5, if the Deputy determines that an alleged 

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1 practice that is a violation of a criminal civil 

2 rights statute occurred in a State, or political 

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

4 law prohibiting the practice alleged and estab5 lishing or authorizing a State or local law en6 forcement official to grant or seek relief from 

7 such practice or to institute criminal pro8 ceedings with respect to the practice on receiv9 ing notice of the practice, the Deputy shall con10 sult with the official regarding the appropriate 

11 venue for the case involved. 

12 (3) REFERRAL.—After investigating a com13 plaint under paragraph (1), or receiving a report of 

14 an investigation conducted under section 5, the Dep15 uty shall refer the complaint to the Criminal Section 

16 of the Civil Rights Division, if the Deputy deter17 mines that the subject of the complaint has violated 

18 a criminal civil rights statute in the case involved 

19 but the violation does not meet the requirements of 

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

21 (c) STUDY AND REPORT.— 

22 (1) STUDY.—The Deputy shall annually con23 duct a study of the cases under the jurisdiction of 

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1 vestigator and, in conducting the study, shall deter2 mine the cases— 

3 (A) for which the Deputy has sufficient 

4 evidence to prosecute violations of criminal civil 

5 rights statutes; and 

6 (B) for which the Deputy has insufficient 

7 evidence to prosecute those violations. 

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

9 2007 and of each subsequent year, the Deputy shall 

10 prepare and submit to Congress a report containing 

11 the results of the study conducted under paragraph 

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

13 paragraph (1)(B). 

14 SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE IN FEDERAL BUREAU 

15 OF INVESTIGATION. 

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

17 Rights Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the 

18 Department of Justice an Unsolved Civil Rights Crime In19 vestigative Office. The Office shall be headed by a Deputy 

20 Investigator. 

21 (b) RESPONSIBILITY.— 

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

23 agreement established between the Deputy Investi24 gator and the Deputy, the Deputy Investigator shall 

25 be responsible for investigating violations of criminal 

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1 civil rights statutes, in cases described in section 

2 4(b). 

3 (2) COORDINATION.— 

4 (A) INVESTIGATIVE ACTIVITIES.—In inves5 tigating a complaint under paragraph (1), the 

6 Deputy Investigator shall coordinate the inves7 tigative activities with State and local law en8 forcement officials. 

9 (B) REFERRAL.—After investigating a 

10 complaint under paragraph (1), the Deputy In11 vestigator shall— 

12 (i) determine whether the subject of 

13 the complaint has violated a criminal 

14 rights statute in the case involved; and 

15 (ii) refer the complaint to the Deputy, 

16 together with a report containing the de17 termination and the results of the inves18 tigation. 

19 (C) RESOURCES.—The Federal Bureau of 

20 Investigation, in coordination with the Depart21 ment of Justice, Civil Rights Division, shall 

22 have discretion to re-allocate investigative per23 sonnel to jurisdictions to carry out the goals of 

24 this section. 

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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro3 priated to carry out this Act $10,000,000 for fiscal year 

4 2008 and each subsequent fiscal year through 2017. 

5 These funds shall be allocated by the Attorney General 

6 to the Unsolved Civil Rights Era Crime Unit of the De7 partment of Justice and the Civil Rights Unit of the Fed8 eral Bureau of Investigation in order to advance the pur9 poses set forth in this Act. 

10 (b) ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS.—Any funds ap11 propriated under this section shall consist of additional ap12 propriations for the activities described in this Act, rather 

13 than funds made available through reductions in the ap14 propriations authorized for other enforcement activities of 

15 the Department of Justice. 

16 (c) COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE DE17 PARTMENT OF JUSTICE.—In addition to any amounts au18 thorized to be appropriated under title XI of the Civil 

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

20 authorized to be appropriated to the Community Relations 

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

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

23 Service (in carrying out the functions described in title 

24 X of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000g et seq.)) to provide tech25 nical assistance by bringing together law enforcement 

26 agencies and communities in the investigation of violations 

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1 of criminal civil rights statutes, in cases described in sec2 tion 4(b). 

3 SEC. 7. SUNSET. 

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

5 end of fiscal year 2017. 

6 SEC. 8. AUTHORITY OF INSPECTORS GENERAL. 

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

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

9 the following: 

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

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

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

13 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) may authorize staff to assist the 

14 National Center for Missing and Exploited Children— 

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

16 to develop recommendations for further investiga17 tions; and 

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

19 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.— 

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

21 permit staff to engage in activities described in sub22 section (a) if such activities will interfere with the 

23 duties of the Inspector General under the Inspector 

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

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1 ‘‘(2) FUNDING.—No additional funds are au2 thorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec3 tion.’’. 

Æ 

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