Congress Sends Bill to Obama on Civil Rights-Era Killings

Congress has sent legislation to President Barack Obama’s desk that would continue reviews of racially motivated killings in the civil rights era that are now cold cases.

The legislation passed by voice vote at the end of the congressional session early Saturday. It would indefinitely extend a 2007 law that calls for a full accounting of race-based deaths, many of which had been closed for decades. The law expires next year.

More than 100 cases from the 1960s and earlier have been checked out so far, with one conviction. But new racially suspicious deaths have been identified for investigation. In many cases such crimes were poorly investigated and prosecutions were rare. Read More…