BANISHMENT BEING REVIVED AT SOME TRIBES

Punishment Being Used To Deal With Gang, Drug Activity On Reservations

MINNEAPOLIS - Banishment, long regarded as the ultimate punishment among
American Indians, is making a comeback among tribes trying to find more
effective ways to deal with gangs and drugs.

Generations ago, banishment meant casting offenders out and making them
fend for themselves in the forest or on the plains.

The modern version means ordering troublemakers off the reservation, but
can also include stripping them of their tribal membership -- a painful
penalty in tribes that share casino profits with members.

Minnesota's Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe is one of the latest to revive the
practice. The band approved a banishment law last fall and used it against
three young people convicted in a series of assaults. Indian leaders feared
the violence could lead to the formation of gangs.

"When people cross that line and the community says we've had enough, it's
a process we can use to deal with it," said Norman Deschampe, the band
chairman.

The National Tribal Justice Resource Center has no count of how many tribes
recently have adopted or revived banishment laws. But the number appears to
be on the rise.

At least seven of Minnesota's 11 Indian bands -- all are either Ojibwe or
Dakota -- have either passed or used banishment-type laws within the past
decade. The Lummi Nation, in Washington state, announced over the summer
that it would use banishment more often to deal with rampant drug use.

One reason tribes are turning to banishment is that federal law does not
allow tribal courts to impose sentences of more than a year in jail and a
$5,000 fine.

Banishment is typically imposed by the tribal courts, where people can
defend themselves and petition for reinstatement.

Where the laws exist, they are used sparingly. Most tribal leaders call
banishment a last resort. But when it is used, it can hurt.

Kay Commodore, a Lummi Indian, was stripped of her tribal membership and
banished from the reservation after she was convicted of drug trafficking
in 1992. Commodore, 67, served three years in prison and said banishment is
worse. She is allowed on the reservation only to visit a plot of land she
holds. She is forbidden to visit family members.

"They're taking away a piece of who I am," Commodore said.

The nation's largest tribe, the Navajo Nation, has kept a banishment-type
law on its books since 1940. But Donovan Brown, assistant attorney general,
can recall it being used only once -- about five years ago, for a person
involved in gang activity.

The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe recently used banishment for the first time
in about 75 years, casting out two young members for starting fights and
causing other trouble on the Minnesota reservation.

Some Indian leaders argue that banishment simply pushes a tribe's problems
elsewhere. Others worry the punishment could be misused to silence
political opponents; that was one reason Minnesota's Leech Lake Band of
Ojibwe decided not to revive the punishment in the late 1990s.

Federal and state authorities oversee the prosecution of non-Indians who
commit crimes in Indian country, but Indian leaders say some crimes, such
as drug possession or domestic violence, may not be considered a priority.

Last fall, the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota banished a non-Indian
accused of bringing drugs onto the reservation. A tribal prosecutor said it
was only the second time in his 13 years that the band had banished someone.