The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation Thursday to establish two offices at the FBI and Justice Department to investigate and prosecute unsolved civil rights-era murder cases.
The bill, which passed by voice vote, was amended to authorize the inspectors general at federal law enforcement agencies to assign staff to investigate missing child cold cases.
The Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act (S. 2679), sponsored by Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn., would establish an Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Investigative Office in the FBI's Civil Rights Unit to investigate unsolved civil rights-era cases that resulted in death.
The bill would also create an Unsolved Civil Rights Era Crimes Unit in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to prosecute cases in coordination with state and local officials based on the result of the investigation. Cases that investigators determine not to be murders would be referred to the Criminal Section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.
The Justice Department unit would also be required to provide Congress with an annual status report on the cases under its jurisdiction.
The committee authorized a $5 million annual budget for each office and allocates a $1.5 million annual budget to the Justice Department's Community Relations Service to act as a liaison between law enforcement agencies and local communities affected by the investigations.