Lisel Petis serves as Policy Director and leads the Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties team at the R Street Institute, a nonpartisan think tank based out of Washington, D.C. She also works as a scholar, actively researching, writing, presenting, and advocating on commonsense solutions to reduce public safety risk, protect individual liberties, and advance equity in the justice system.

Lisel’s work spans a range of criminal justice and civil liberties issues, including unnecessary incarceration, behavioral health responses, and the legal limits on government power. Lisel has made significant contributions to the criminal justice reform movement through policy studies like “Navigating Bail Reform in America: A State-by-State Overview,” a six-part blog series titled “Reform Efforts and Rise in Crime,” and op-eds published in outlets including The Southern Illinoisan, Nevada Current, and The Boston Herald. She served as an expert for the National League of Cities’ Mayoral Convenings on Community Safety and Violence Prevention, the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Pretrial Fellowship, and the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys Leadership Institute. She has also been interviewed as a subject matter expert by outlets including C-SPAN, Fox 31 Colorado, Public News Services, Governing, and the Washington Examiner.

Before joining R Street, Lisel served as executive director of Better Tomorrow, an organization supporting victims of domestic and sexual violence, and helped establish her community’s first Child Advocacy Center to provide forensic interviews and forensic exams for victims of child abuse. She previously practiced criminal and civil law, including several years as a prosecutor, and argued a matter of first impression before the Colorado Court of Appeals and the Colorado Supreme Court. Lisel also served five years on city council in Colorado and has held appointments from the Governor of Colorado and the Colorado 14th Judicial District Chief Judge.

Lisel is a board member of the South Carolina Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network. She lives in Greenville, South Carolina, with her husband, Geoff, and daughter, Penelope.