# Thou art banished! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 15, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549 "2003-10-15T11:25:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/1 "2003-10-15T11:25:01Z")
Is there anywhere in the world where banishment is till used as punishment for a crime? I’m talking banishment here, I don’t mean political exile- like when a deposed leader or counter revolutionary subversive must either leave or face execution. I mean: you’re o.k. by everyone, then you commit a crime, then you’re banished as punishment. Or is political exile the only modern remnant of this ancient practice? ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/2 "2003-10-15T12:13:43Z")
Uh, I suspect many tribal groups still do this. Once you scale up to a level where you dont feel a strong tie to your particular social grouping, banishment loses its horror. Churches, Social groups, schools, etc still use banishment. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/3 "2003-10-15T12:39:41Z")
It’s the standard punishment for over-staying your visa. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/4 "2003-10-15T15:14:31Z")
From what I remember in my International Law classes was that “banisment” isnt an acknowledged practice. A country cannot prevent their own nationals from entering their country… thou naturally they can host them in a nice prison cell. Exile is usually “voluntary” in that these people don’t want to be arrested or killed. This was done to avoid creating a huge “no nationality” group of exiles and strange legal middle ground. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/5 "2003-10-15T15:35:44Z")
- an example to be avoided… a known criminal is arrested in another country. His original country states they “exiled/banished” him and will not take him back. He didn’t commit any crimes where he was arrested thou. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/6 "2003-10-15T15:49:52Z")
Does being excommunicated and whatever the Mormon church calls it count? That is being excluded from the group as a punishment - it’s not part of the law, but one gets the idea people don’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/7 "2003-10-15T16:06:36Z")
The Commonwealth of Virginia has large signs near on I-77 near the state line notifying you that “Illegal Guns” can mean imprisonment or exile from Virginia. Dunno’ how pertinent that is, but it seems like the single rudest welcome to give people. ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/8 "2003-10-15T16:41:47Z")
Banishment really isn’t as effective a punishment as it once was when everyone depended heavilly on everyone else just to survive so naturally it would become less common. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/9 "2003-10-15T16:48:59Z")
Georgia has a weird law giving a judge the right to limit which counties in Geogia a felon may live after doing his time. But they can’t exclude all counties. (And Georgia has a _lot_ of counties.) So there is a small southern county that is the unofficial “dumping ground” of creeps from the rest of the state. Since there is nothing going on there and the locals certainly don’t want any newcomers hanging around, all the crooks (supposedly) just leave the state. I.e., it is for all practical purposes a banishment from Georgia. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/10 "2003-10-15T17:44:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by j.c. \* > Does being excommunicated and whatever the Mormon church calls it count? Not surprisingly, we call it excommunication. It’s merely the ejection of one member of that religious group. In that sense, excommunication is banishment from the group. > [@](#): > > That is being excluded from the group as a punishment - it’s not part of the law, but one gets the idea people don’t like it. Well, excommunication isn’t part of the secular law because there’s a separation of church and state in this country. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/11 "2003-10-15T17:51:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Woodall \* > \*\*The Commonwealth of Virginia has large signs near on I-77 near the state line notifying you that “Illegal Guns” can mean imprisonment or exile from Virginia. > Dunno’ how pertinent that is, but it seems like the single rudest welcome to give people. \*\* This really isn’t exile, but Project EXILE. If you commit a crime with a gun in the state of Virginia, prosecution will be for federal gun offenses. The feds will then send you to a federal pen thousands of miles away from the state of Virginia to serve your sentence, and nobody you know will likely ever make the trip to come visit you. It is imprisonment, not exile. It works, too. This program has made Richmond a much safer city to live and work in. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/12 "2003-10-15T18:20:22Z")
For that information, _Thank You, **Mr. Moto** _! [sub]I’ve been wanting to use that for sooooo long![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![tullius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tullius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullius)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thou-art-banished/207549/13 "2003-10-15T18:28:38Z")
For what it’s worth, the **Ohio** Constitution (art. 1, sec. 12) seems to prohibit exile from the State as a form of punishment: “No person shall be _transported out of the state_, for any offense committed within the same.” (Presumably this is only a limit on the State courts and wouldn’t prevent the feds from sending someone to a federal prison outside Ohio for a federal crime committed in the State.)