Skip to main content

Cold Case Initiative

Image of fingerprints on white paper

In 2006, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began its "Cold Case Initiative" — a comprehensive effort to identify and investigate decades-old, racially-motivated murders. Two years later, in 2008, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act (Emmett Till Act) became law. The 2008 Act, and its 2016 reauthorization, directs the Civil Rights Division (CRT) and the FBI to jointly address "violations of criminal civil rights statutes . . . result[ing] in death" that "occurred not later than December 31, 1979." To learn more about civil rights cold cases and the Department’s Cold Case Initiative, please visit the links below:

If you or someone you know has information about a civil rights-era cold case, please contact the Civil Rights Division at Coldcase.Civilrights@usdoj.gov, or by phone at (202) 514-4609 and (TTY) (202) 514-0716. You can also contact your local FBI office or the national FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324).

Updated October 14, 2022