Two native teenagers from Alaska have been banished to two uninhabited islands to spend more than a year in exile.
The 17-year-old youths were sent off with sleeping bags and a few select tools on a fishing boat after brutally beating a pizza delivery man in Everett, Washington. He was left with permanent damage to his hearing and eyesight.
The banishment was decided by 12 band Elders when a state court judge referred the case to a band court. It is the first state criminal case to be referred for a traditional tribal punishment.
The boys were given forks, axes, saws and some food to get them started. They will also have sleeping bags and a wood stove, but will be expected to build their own shelters. They will be checked on periodically, but there will be no way for them to contact anyone off the island. They are being exiled somewhere along the Alexander Archipelago on the south-eastern coast of Alaska, said a report in Windspeaker.
