News & Events

08 Dec 2011

How it feels to help save an innocent man

A UK barrister talks about Reprieve's campaign to assist Ryan Matthews, an innocent man convicted of murder in Louisiana. More

10 Nov 2011

Film Screening and AGM 16th November 2011

REPRIEVE Film Night Special screening: Love Lived On Death Row To mark the Reprieve’s 10th Annual General Meeting, please join us for a special screening of Love Lived on Death Row. Reprieve’s AGM will be held prior to the screening. View a trailer. Venue: Thousand Pound Bend, 361 Lt Lonsdale St, Melbourne (near the corner of Elizabeth St.) Date: Wednesday 16 November,... More

08 Sep 2011

Free public forum: Why more prisons are not the answer.

Join this free public forum to consider why more prisons in Victoria is not the answer to reducing crime and disadvantage. Register at www.communitylaw.org.au. This forum will include updates on current sentencing and prison trends in Victoria; Law and order policies being implemented or planned and their likely impact; the role of the media in law and order debates and strategies for change;... More

04 Jul 2011

ICJ Public Forum on the Death Penalty in the Asia-Pacific

Bali 9 Members Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran face execution in Indonesia unless presidential clemency is secured. What should Australians be doing and saying about their citizens facing the death penalty overseas? More

13 May 2011

Obama and the Death Penalty: A study on politics and the death penalty

Coming up on 3 June 2011, US-based death penalty lawyer Richard Bourke speaks on the intersection between politics and capital punishment. More

13 May 2011

Religion and the Death Penalty: with Richard Bourke and Peter Norden AO

Join us on 31 May for a fascinating discussion with Richard Bourke, director of the Louisiana Capital Assistance Centre, and Peter Norden, social justice campaigner and former Pentridge Prison chaplain. More

10 Aug 2009

Support Petition to Outlaw the Death Penalty

Reprieve Australia has applauded plans recently announced by federal Attorney-General for legislation to ban Australian states from ever re-introducing the death penalty. Reprieve strongly endorses this Petition, and encourages all its members and supporters to sign, so that together we can urge our politicians to shut the door once and for all on the death penalty in Australia. More

01 Jul 2009

Reprieve Australia Newsletter, July 2009

Reprieve Australia’s latest newsletter reflecting on what our members and supporters have helped us achieve over the past 12 months. Also, provides information on how to become a member or renew your membership. More

20 Feb 2009

Letter from the Prime Minister's Office

Letter from the Prime Minister’s office in response to Reprieve’s recent letter writing campaign regarding the death penalty More

12 Jan 2009

Is Texas Changing Its Mind about the Death Penalty?

In 2008, ten men and one woman were sentenced to death in Texas, the lowest number since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Citing the introduction of the sentencing option of life without parole, and other recent developments, including the case of Juan Quintero (on which Reprieve's interns worked), Time Magazine concludes, "with broader legal options, the most execution-prone state of... More

01 Dec 2008

Welcome to the Reprieve Australia Online Newsletter

December 2008 Newsletter Please click the links at the end of the article abstracts to read the full story. More

21 Nov 2008

Report - Reprieve film night

On Thursday 20 November a number of Reprieve supporters gathered for the Australian premiere of "At the Death House Door". Recently shortlisted for an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary, the film was screening as part of the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival in Melbourne. It is the moving story of Rev. Carroll Pickett who served as the death house chaplain to the Walls prison unit in... More

17 Nov 2008

The Rendition Monologues - December 10 @ 8pm

Actors for Human Rights, the outreach network of London-based iceandfire theatre company, is giving a voice to people who have suffered torture and abuse under the CIA's counter-terror method known as 'extraordinary rendition'. More

11 Nov 2008

Statement on execution of Bali bombers

Reprieve Australia strongly endorses the stance declared by Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, that Australia will soon co-sponsor an international moratorium on capital punishment at the United Nations General Assembly. Rachel Walsh, President of Reprieve Australia, said today Australia should stand against capital punishment at every opportunity in line with the declared policy of both... More

10 Nov 2008

All executions are a failure of justice

DEATH row. The expression conjures stark images. One of them for me is the faces of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, pictured, two of the Bali nine being held in Kerobokan prison. They have been sentenced to be shot. When I last saw them 10 days ago, their anxiety was raw. Ten prisoners have been executed in Indonesia since June and one question on the minds of those working for Australians on death row in Bali is, what are the implications of Sunday's execution of the Bali bombers for them? More

23 Oct 2008

Texas schedules ten executions in 30 days

The state of Texas has scheduled ten executions in 30 days, a record in the southern state that is already the US leader in capital punishment, having put more than 400 people to death in 30 years. More

17 Oct 2008

Iranians outlaw execution of juvenile offenders

Human rights organisations today praised Iran for announcing an end to the widely-condemned practice of juvenile executions – a decision which should spare the lives of 130 youths on death row. More

10 Oct 2008

World is moving towards banning death penalty, says Reprieve

The world is moving closer to the final abolition of the death penalty, according to the latest figures published to coincide with World Day against the Death Penalty today. More

09 Oct 2008

Report reveals more countries abolishing death penalty

...in the last 18 months, there are still thousands of people being executed every year around the world," said Clive Stafford Smith, director of Reprieve. ... More

06 Oct 2008

Reprieve supports preventing return of the death penalty

Please take five minutes to send an email in support of Federal Labor backbencher and Government Whip, Chris Hayes, who is sponsoring a motion in the House of Representatives calling for a legislative bar to the reintroduction of the death penalty in Australia... More

30 Sep 2008

Reprieve makes recommendation on permanent board of inquiry

In 1922, Colin Campbell Ross was hanged in Melbourne Gaol for murdering 12 year old Alma Tirtschke. Thanks to the efforts of journalist Kevin Morgan and the Ross and Tirtschke families, he has recently been proven innocent of the crime and this year was officially pardoned posthumously by the Governor of Victoria on the recommendation of the Premier. This prompted Reprieve Australia to write to... More

01 Sep 2008

Inaugural Reprieve Lecture

Speech to be given by His Honour Justice Lasry on 9 October 2008... More

04 Aug 2008

Articles on Dale Bishop Execution

Read media coverage on Dale Bishop's execution... More

24 Jul 2008

Lawyers make huge pro bono effort for Guantánamo detainees

"They got involved long before it became fashionable," said Clive Stafford Smith, director of the British legal aid society Reprieve, who... More

23 Jul 2008

Executions barred in rapes of children

... not broaden it," said Billy Sothern, a New Orleans lawyer who was part of the team that represented the defendant, Patrick Kennedy... More

23 Jul 2008

Day of 11th-hour appeals halts Texas execution

... a lot of cases in Texas that defy common sense, but this does reach a new low," said Andrea Keilen, executive director of the Texas Defender Service. ... More

22 Jul 2008

Pace of Texas executions revives fairness disputes

Critics question the speed at which Texas carries out its executions More

02 May 2007

"Lorilei" radio production wins major awards'

The BBC Radio production of the play Lorilei, co-written by Reprieve Australia President Nick Harrington, has taken out the 2007 BBC Radio Drama and Gold Drama Award, 2007 Sony Radio Academy Award. More

19 Dec 2006

Reprieve website goes live

Welcome to the new website of Reprieve Australia! More

Kirby J lauds pro bono lawyers

In a recent speech, His Honour Justice Kirby, patron of Reprieve Australia, honoured the role played by pro bono lawyers More