Juliet Lyon MA CBE

Juliet Lyon MA CBE is a visiting professor in the School of Social Sciences at Birkbeck and a member of the Institute for Criminal Policy Research (ICPR). She is also a member of Churchill Fellowships advisory council and currently chairs the Open Mental Health Alliance Somerset.

Until 2016 Juliet was director of Prison Reform Trust (PRT) and secretary general of Penal Reform International (PRI). During this period, PRT and ICPR developed a strong collaboration. Influential publications by Jessica Jacobson and Mike Hough, acknowledged by then Home Secretary, Ken Clarke, included 'Unjust Deserts: imprisonment for public protection', which informed the abolition of the IPP sentence, and 'Punishing Disadvantage: a profile of children in custody' , which helped to lay the foundation for an over 50% reduction of the child prison population in England and Wales.

In 2023 Juliet completed her tenure as chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody (IAPDC). She has served as an independent member of a number of government reviews including Corston on vulnerable women in the criminal justice system; Bradley on mental health and learning disability; and most recently the Thomas Commission on Justice in Wales. Formerly Juliet was a Women's National Commissioner. 

Juliet has a longstanding interest in how to apply research evidence to effect change in social policy, practice and legislation. Her publication with Catherine Dennison and Anita Wilson in 2000 Home Office Research Study 201, 'Tell Them So They Listen: Messages from Young People in Custody' , underpinned a set of youth justice reforms. In 2014 she was appointed an impact assessor to the first  Research Excellence Framework (REF). Drawing on her IAPDC report, 'Keep Talking, Stay Safe. Prisoners' experience of Covid 19' , in 2024 Juliet submitted formal evidence to the Covid Inquiry.