[JURIST] The US Senate has approved the creation of a new US Department of Justice [official website] office that would investigate racially motivated homicides that took place prior to 1970. The Unsolved Crimes Section was proposed in reaction to numerous cases that remain unsolved due to weak state and federal prosecution at the time they occurred, including the Emmett Till [JURIST news archive] case. The amendment was co-sponsored by Senator Jim Talent (R-MO) [official website; press release] and Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) [official website] and received unanimous support from the Senate, which included the measure in the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill, expected to move through the Senate this week. The House version of the bill does not include the proposed DOJ office and the proposal would have to survive conference negotiations before becoming law. The new office would be similar to the Office of Special Investigations [official website], which hunts down Nazis living in the US. AP has more.