Banishment

Abstract

Abstract Banishment is the punishment of forced exile for a fixed term or life. It was used both in ancient societies and in colonial Britain as a punishment for rebels and common criminals. The institution of “transportation” was used extensively to populate and supply cheap labor to British North American colonies and Australia. Internal exile was also used to isolate criminals and political opponents of the tsarist regime in Russia and more recently in the Soviet Union. Some writers contend that extreme residential restrictions on sex offenders in the United States constitute de facto banishment.