Exile can either be administered by the state, in which case it’s an open air prison, or by emergent criminal gangs. Forced labor emerges either way I think.
Even under the idealistic assumption that the exile-location develops some organized society that is kind and friendly and would never engaged in forced labor, at that point it is effectively a separate country and you are exporting your criminals to them. This is not so much solving the problem of handling criminals as delegating it to someone else.
Exile makes sense as a punishment when you have an unpopulated wilderness area and the person is going to live in isolation. It stops making sense when all habitable land is already being used.
Administered by the state, of course. Open air prison where you can choose where to live, when to go to bed and wake up, what to eat, who to work with and so on, would feel a lot less constraining to the spirit than the prisons we have now.
I think that’s the key factor to me. It’s a bit hard to define. A punishment should punish, but not constrain the spirit. For example, a physical ball and chain (though it looks old-fashioned and barbaric) seems like an okay punishment to me, because it’s very clear that it only limits the body. The spirit stays free, you can still talk to people, look at clouds and so on. Or in case of informational crimes, a virtual ball and chain that limits the bandwidth of your online interactions, or something like that.
Exile can either be administered by the state, in which case it’s an open air prison, or by emergent criminal gangs. Forced labor emerges either way I think.
Even under the idealistic assumption that the exile-location develops some organized society that is kind and friendly and would never engaged in forced labor, at that point it is effectively a separate country and you are exporting your criminals to them. This is not so much solving the problem of handling criminals as delegating it to someone else.
Exile makes sense as a punishment when you have an unpopulated wilderness area and the person is going to live in isolation. It stops making sense when all habitable land is already being used.
Administered by the state, of course. Open air prison where you can choose where to live, when to go to bed and wake up, what to eat, who to work with and so on, would feel a lot less constraining to the spirit than the prisons we have now.
I think that’s the key factor to me. It’s a bit hard to define. A punishment should punish, but not constrain the spirit. For example, a physical ball and chain (though it looks old-fashioned and barbaric) seems like an okay punishment to me, because it’s very clear that it only limits the body. The spirit stays free, you can still talk to people, look at clouds and so on. Or in case of informational crimes, a virtual ball and chain that limits the bandwidth of your online interactions, or something like that.
My impression is this surprisingly didn’t happen in Australia? But not sure about other instances.
Forced labor was definitely a thing, though it’s hard to find much detail https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Australian-convict-settlements/628970
(This kids article was a lot more concise than other sources that focused on wildly different aspects)