Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) praised yesterday’s enactment of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act.  The legislation, introduced in the Senate by Dodd, will provide the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigations with the authority needed to effectively investigate and prosecute unsolved Civil Rights Era-murders. The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act was named after Emmett Till, a teenager who was mutilated and murdered while on a summer vacation in Money, Mississippi in 1955. Public outrage surrounding the case helped to propel the inception of the modern-day Civil Rights movement in America.

“Today’s enactment of the Emmett Till bill is long overdue,” said Dodd.  “While this legislation cannot change the past or heal the wounds caused by senseless crimes of racial hatred, it can help restore faith in our justice system.  And to those who perpetrated these heinous crimes and still walk the streets as free members of society, the enactment of this law should send a message that they will not escape the hand of justice.”      

The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act will provide the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) the authority needed to reopen Civil Rights-era criminal cases which have gone cold by designating a Deputy Chief in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ and a Supervisory Special Agent in the Civil Rights Unit of the FBI. These individuals will be tasked with spearheading and coordinating efforts by federal, state, and local law enforcement officers and prosecutors to bring long-time fugitives to justice. Both positions will focus on investigating and prosecuting the unsolved murder cases that occurred prior to 1970, during the Civil-rights era.

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