[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 923 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
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 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 participate 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 containing
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 appropriated
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 statutes that occurred
not later than December 31, 1969, and resulted in a death. These funds
shall be allocated by the Attorney General to the Deputy Chief of the
Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division and the Supervisory
Special Agent of the Civil Rights Unit of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in order to advance the purposes set forth in this Act.
(b) Community Relations Service of the Department of Justice.--In
addition to any amounts authorized to be appropriated under title XI of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000h et seq.), there are
authorized to be appropriated to the Community Relations Service of the
Department of Justice $1,500,000 for fiscal year 2008 and each
subsequent fiscal year, to enable the Service (in carrying out the
functions described in title X of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000g et seq.))
to provide technical assistance by bringing together law enforcement
agencies and communities in the investigation of violations of criminal
civil rights statutes, in cases described in section 4(b).
SEC. 7. DEFINITION OF ``CRIMINAL CIVIL RIGHTS STATUTES''.
In this Act, the term ``criminal civil rights statutes'' means--
(1) section 241 of title 18, United States Code (relating to
conspiracy against rights);
(2) section 242 of title 18, United States Code (relating to
deprivation of rights under color of law);
(3) section 245 of title 18, United States Code (relating to
federally protected activities);
(4) sections 1581 and 1584 of title 18, United States Code
(relating to involuntary servitude and peonage);
(5) section 901 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3631); and
(6) any other Federal law that--
(A) was in effect on or before December 31, 1969; and
(B) the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of
the Department of Justice enforced, before the date of
enactment of this Act.
SEC. 8. SUNSET.
Sections 2 through 6 of this Act shall cease to have effect at the
end of fiscal year 2017.
SEC. 9. AUTHORITY OF INSPECTORS GENERAL.
Title XXXVII of the Crime Control Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 5779 et
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 3703. AUTHORITY OF INSPECTORS GENERAL.
``(a) In General.--An Inspector General appointed under section 3
or 8G of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) may
authorize staff to assist the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children--
``(1) by conducting reviews of inactive case files to develop
recommendations for further investigations; and
``(2) by engaging in similar activities.
``(b) Limitations.--
``(1) Priority.--An Inspector General may not permit staff to
engage in activities described in subsection (a) if such activities
will interfere with the duties of the Inspector General under the
Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.).
``(2) Funding.--No additional funds are authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section.''.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.