Prof. Seth Soughton
University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law, Excellence in Policing & Public Safety Program
Seth Stoughton is the Mitchell Willoughby Professor of Advocacy and Public Justice at the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he also serves as the faculty director of the legislatively funded Excellence in Policing & Public Safety Program. A former officer himself, Seth has been studying policing and police systems since 2012. He has published extensively on legal and administrative regulation, misconduct, tactics and the use of force, and the use of new technologies. He is a frequent lecturer on policing issues; has regularly appeared on national and international media; has written about policing for The New York Times, The Atlantic, TIME, and other news publications; and has filed multiple amicus briefs to the Supreme Court. Seth has been listed on the International Criminal Court’s Registry of Experts and has served as an expert in a number of high profile police cases, including testifying in the criminal prosecutions of Derek Chauvin, who was convicted for killing George Floyd, and Kim Potter, who was convicted for killing Daunte Wright, and providing expert analysis related to the police killing of Christian Glass and actions taken by the Seattle Police Department during the 2020 protests. He holds a BA from Florida State University and a JD from the University of Virginia.