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Banishment means sending someone away from the country. It began to be used as a form of punishment in the 18th century.

Transportation was an alternative to the death penalty. At the time of the Bloody Code, judges wanted to have a more lenient punishment than the death penalty. Banishment was considered a good punishment as the criminal was removed from the country, so could no longer commit more crimes.

Banishment was a cheaper option than prison and also helped Britain gain control of, cultivate, and colonise Australia. Before Captain Cook's discovery of Australia in 1770, prisons and hulks were very overcrowded. Between 1787 and 1868, 160,000 convicts were transported to Australia.

Transportation was not a soft punishment as sentences were for seven years, 14 years, or life. Conditions both on the journey and once there were harsh. The authorities still hoped that transportation would be a deterrent, but also that there was an opportunity to be reformed by the hard work. This shows a significant change in attitudes compared to execution.

Transportation ended as a form of punishment in 1868. Increasingly, attitudes were changing and punishment was seen to be about reforming and rehabilitating the criminal rather than banishing them. It seemed unfair to be sending prisoners to Australia when increasing numbers of British people were paying to emigrate there to start a new life. The free settlers in Australia were becoming resentful at having thousands of criminals dumped on them.