[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3430 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







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.

    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 2008''.

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 (in this Act referred to as the ``Deputy 
Chief'').
    (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 of Justice 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 most recent study conducted under this 
                paragraph;
                    (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 
                of Justice 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 every 12 months 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 (in this Act referred to as 
the ``Supervisory Special Agent'').
    (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 make grants to State or 
local law enforcement agencies for expenses associated with the 
investigation and prosecution 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 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 
fiscal years 2008 through 2017 for investigating and prosecuting 
violations of criminal civil rights statutes that occurred not later 
than December 31, 1969, and resulted in a death. Amounts appropriated 
pursuant to this subsection shall be allocated by the Attorney General 
to the Deputy Chief and the Supervisory Special Agent 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 Community Relations 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 force or 
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.''.

SEC. 10. USE OF RESOURCES.

    For any fiscal year in which Congress does not provide funding to 
carry out this Act at the levels authorized, the Attorney General shall 
give priority to allocating amounts to carry out this Act in allocating 
amounts appropriated for the Department of Justice--
            (1) under the heading ``salaries and expenses, general 
        legal activities'' under the heading ``Legal Activities'';
            (2) under the heading ``salaries and expenses, community 
        relations service'' under the heading ``United States Marshals 
        Service''; and
            (3) under the heading ``salaries and expenses'' under the 
        heading ``Federal Bureau of Investigation''.
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