Dan Sutton directs research on AI, public safety, and economic opportunity at Stanford Law School’s Center for Racial Justice. His recent research examines the intersection of AI and the criminal justice system, including its influence on decision-making by prosecutors and its potential for analyzing body-worn camera footage to advance evidence-based reform. He has led comprehensive studies on policing regulations, authored model force policies that have shaped regulations across the United States, and studied the implementation of new legal frameworks designed to challenge racial bias through statistical evidence. He also co-leads a project exploring how America’s universities can rebuild public trust and better deliver on their promise of economic opportunity and mobility.

Dan’s unique service in federal, state, and local government and his experience navigating some of the nation’s most complex public policy issues drive his approach to research addressing the practical challenges facing policymakers and communities. On the Rhode Island Attorney General’s leadership team, he designed innovative criminal justice and police reform initiatives and negotiated complex settlements stemming from the nationwide opioid crisis. He also held senior economic policy positions in Governor Gina Raimondo’s Executive Office of Commerce. During Detroit’s historic bankruptcy, Dan advised the city’s Emergency Manager on rebuilding Detroit’s finances and services, and earlier in his career, worked on national security issues at the White House Office of Management and Budget during the Obama administration.

In addition to his research, Dan teaches law and policy courses at Stanford and has advised law enforcement agencies, policymakers, and AI and technology startups. He is regularly consulted as an expert on emerging policy areas and has written extensively about them. Dan received his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was a member of the Michigan Journal of Race & Law, and is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.