H. R. 923 
One Hundred Tenth Congress 
of the 
United States of America 
AT THE SECOND SESSION 
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday, 
the third day of January, two thousand and eight 
An Act 
To provide for the investigation of certain unsolved civil rights crimes, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emmett Till Unsolved Civil 
Rights Crime Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that all authorities with jurisdiction, 
including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other entities 
within the Department of Justice, should— 
(1) expeditiously investigate unsolved civil rights murders, 
due to the amount of time that has passed since the murders 
and the age of potential witnesses; and 
(2) provide all the resources necessary to ensure timely 
and thorough investigations in the cases involved. 
SEC. 3. DEPUTY CHIEF OF THE CRIMINAL SECTION OF THE CIVIL 
RIGHTS DIVISION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall designate a 
Deputy Chief in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division 
of the Department of Justice. 
(b) RESPONSIBILITY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Deputy Chief shall be responsible 
for coordinating the investigation and prosecution of violations 
of criminal civil rights statutes that occurred not later than 
December 31, 1969, and resulted in a death. 
(2) COORDINATION.—In investigating a complaint under 
paragraph (1), the Deputy Chief may coordinate investigative 
activities with State and local law enforcement officials. 
(c) STUDY AND REPORT.— 
(1) STUDY.—The Attorney General shall annually conduct 
a study of the cases under the jurisdiction of the Deputy Chief 
or under the jurisdiction of the Supervisory Special Agent and, 
in conducting the study, shall determine— 
(A) the number of open investigations within the 
Department for violations of criminal civil rights statutes 
that occurred not later than December 31, 1969; 
(B) the number of new cases opened pursuant to this 
Act since the previous year’s study; 
(C) the number of unsealed Federal cases charged 
within the study period, including the case names, the
H. R. 923—2 
jurisdiction in which the charges were brought, and the 
date the charges were filed; 
(D) the number of cases referred by the Department 
to a State or local law enforcement agency or prosecutor 
within the study period, the number of such cases that 
resulted in State charges being filed, the jurisdiction in 
which such charges were filed, the date the charges were 
filed, and if a jurisdiction declines to prosecute or partici-
pate in an investigation of a case so referred, the fact 
it did so; 
(E) the number of cases within the study period that 
were closed without Federal prosecution, the case names 
of unsealed Federal cases, the dates the cases were closed, 
and the relevant federal statutes; 
(F) the number of attorneys who worked, in whole 
or in part, on any case described in subsection (b)(1); and 
(G) the applications submitted for grants under section 
5, the award of such grants, and the purposes for which 
the grant amount were expended. 
(2) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter, the Attorney 
General shall prepare and submit to Congress a report con-
taining the results of the study conducted under paragraph 
(1). 
SEC. 4. SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS UNIT 
OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall designate a 
Supervisory Special Agent in the Civil Rights Unit of the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice. 
(b) RESPONSIBILITY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Supervisory Special Agent shall be 
responsible for investigating violations of criminal civil rights 
statutes that occurred not later than December 31, 1969, and 
resulted in a death. 
(2) COORDINATION.—In investigating a complaint under 
paragraph (1), the Supervisory Special Agent may coordinate 
the investigative activities with State and local law enforcement 
officials. 
SEC. 5. GRANTS TO STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may award grants 
to State or local law enforcement agencies for expenses associated 
with the investigation and prosecution by them of criminal offenses, 
involving civil rights, that occurred not later than December 31, 
1969, and resulted in a death. 
(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized 
to be appropriated $2,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 
through 2017 to carry out this section. 
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appropriated, 
in addition to any other amounts otherwise authorized to be appro-
priated for this purpose, to the Attorney General $10,000,000 for 
each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2017 for the purpose of 
investigating and prosecuting violations of criminal civil rights stat-
utes that occurred not later than December 31, 1969, and resulted 
in a death. These funds shall be allocated by the Attorney General