Elders banish youths for brutal beating

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Two Native teenagers from Alaska, armed with sleeping bags and a few select tools, have been shuttled off by fishing boats to two uninhabited islands to spend more than a year in exile.

The 17-year-old youths are being punished for the brutal beating of a pizza delivery man in Everett, Wash., which left the 25-yera-old with permanent damage to his hearing and eyesight.

The banishment sentence was decided by 12 tribal Elders when a state court judge referred the case to a tribal 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 on their solitary penance. They will have sleeping bags, a wood stove, and will be expected to build their own shelters.

The boys will be checked on periodically, but there will be no way for them to contact anyone off the island. The location of their exile is somewhere along the Alexander Archipelago on the southeastern coast of Alaska.