Raymond Alford Palmer, 1939–2011

William Palmer

of crime ! He fell by the hand of a friend and boon companion. Six months after, on the 27th of May, 1856, providentially for the ends of justice and the interests of society, the perpetrator of this foul murder was convicted and sentenced to execution; and, on the 14th of last month, he, in the presence of 50,000 persons, suffered an ignominious death upon the scaffold. We might well leave him...

Alford pleas in the age of innocence.

In 1970, the Supreme Court handed down a decision in North Carolina v. Alford that has since allowed defendants who do not wish to risk their fates at trial to plead guilty while simultaneously asserting their innocence. Although "Alford pleas" have remained unexamined by researchers, the increasing number of identified wrongful convictions of those factually innocent highlights the need for an...

Robin Palmer

This article focuses on struggles to secure and defend the land rights of the poor in Africa. A very brief introduction sketches the impact of liberalisation on land in Africa, then looks at the deeper context of land reform, and at the current role of donors. The article goes on to look at detailed case studies of Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa and examines reasons for successes and failu...

Raymond Hu

Theo D . Palmer

The past decade has witnessed ground-breaking advances in human stem cell biology with scientists validating adult neurogenesis and establishing methods to isolate and propagate stem cell populations suitable for transplantation. These advances have forged promising strategies against human neurodegenerative diseases. For example, growth factor administration could stimulate intrinsic repair fr...