Police Uses of Force with Guest Seth Stoughton

Episode 14: Police Uses of Force with Guest Seth Stoughton We are thrilled to have Seth Stoughton join us on the show this week! As an author, Assoc. Professor at the University of South Carolina of Law, and former police officer, Seth gives us a little background on his life and experience before jumping in to discuss his book Evaluating Police Uses of Force and the concepts in it. Our hosts ask questions and talk with Seth about changes that could be made to improve policing and the systems that impact it. They discuss the way policing and use of force is perceived by communities, the laws that govern them, and how that affects the decisions made in this country. Seth also offers options for what people can do to make changes in their own community regarding these issues - vote, attend meetings, write letters to people in charge, and connect with your neighbors. Seth & his co-authors’ Book: Evaluating Police Uses of Force Articles from The Atlantic: Seth is a regular contributor to The Atlantic, with a multitude of interesting articles to read (check them out here). The two that most relate to what we discussed on the show are: How to Actually Fix America’s Police Why Police Need Criticism More info about Seth Stoughton: Seth Stoughton is an Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, where he is affiliated with the Rule of Law Collaborative. He studies policing and how it is regulated, and his scholarship has appeared in the Minnesota Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, and other top journals. He has written multiple book chapters and is the principal co-author of Evaluating Police Uses of Force (forthcoming from NYU Press in spring 2020). He is a frequent lecturer on policing issues, regularly appears on national and international media, and has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, TIME, and other news publications. He teaches Police Law & Policy, Criminal Procedure, Criminal Law, and the Regulation of Vice. Seth served as an officer with the Tallahassee Police Department for five years. In that time, he trained other officers, helped write policies to govern the use of new technologies, earned multiple instructor and operator certifications, and taught personal safety and self-defense courses in the community. In 2004, he received a Formal Achievement Award for his role as a founding member of the Special Response Team. After leaving the police department, Seth spent three years as an Investigator in the Florida Department of Education's Office of Inspector General, where he handled a variety of criminal and administrative investigations. In 2008, he received a statewide award for his work combating private school tuition voucher fraud. Seth earned his B.A. in English from Florida State University. He attended the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was an Articles Editor on the Virginia Law Review, an Elsie Hughes Cabell Scholar, and the recipient of the Thomas Marshall Miller Prize. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Kenneth F. Ripple of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Prior to joining the faculty at South Carolina, Seth was a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, where he taught legal writing and a Regulation of Vice seminar.