WASHINGTON — President Bush has signed into law new authority for the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI to reopen, investigate and prosecute unsolved Civil Rights Era crimes.
The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act directs the attorney general to designate a deputy chief in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division to be responsible for investigating and prosecuting violations of criminal civil rights statutes in which the alleged violation occurred before January 1, 1970, and resulted in death, and to designate a supervisory special agent in the Civil Rights Unit of the FBI to investigate those alleged violations as well.
