Internalizing Legal Norms: An Investigation into the Legitimacy of Payback Killings in the New Guinea Islands

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/lasr.12124
• Date: 01 March 2015
• Published date: 01 March 2015

Internalizing Legal Norms: An Investigation into

the Legitimacy of Payback Killings in the New

Guinea Islands

Shaun Larcom

This article investigates beliefs concerning the legitimacy of the traditional

customary practice of payback in the New Guinea Islands; a practice that has

been illegal for more than a century. The practice of payback is described and

contextualized and a conceptual framework of norm internalization in a legal

transplant society is developed. The empirical results highlight a stark urban–

rural divide in attitudes. Yet, against expectations, those in urban environ-

ments (and in closer proximity to the state criminal law) are more likely to

agree with the use of payback. An expected relationship is found between the

ability to speak English and not agreeing with the use of payback. The empiri-

cal results suggest that the criminal law may be a weak force and that non-

legal channels may be more effective in transforming society.

In pre-colonial Papua New Guinea, a collection of small state-

less warrior societies, payback (or retributive homicide) was

deemed to be a legitimate sanction. Under custom (or perhaps

more appropriate customary law) a homicide, whether intentional

or deliberate, could be sanctioned with a payback killing, which

could be targeted toward the wrongdoer or a member of his or

her kin (Trompf 1994). Now a payback killing is an offence itself

Centre for Development, Environment and Policy, SOAS, University of London,

United Kingdom; Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge,

United Kingdom; Von H€ugel Institute, St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge,

Cambridge, United Kingdom. I am grateful to Chiara Berneri, Abhishek Chakravarty,

Michael Faure, Kate Johnston Ata’ata, Irma Kurniawan, Brendon McConnell, Megan

Richardson, Dan Rogger, Timothy Swanson, William Twining, Tim Willems, Gordon

Woodman and seminar participants at the Australian National University and the Gradu-

ate Institute Geneva for discussions and comments. I am also grateful to the editors and

reviewers for providing comments that greatly improved this article. This research was

made possible by the assistance of Fr.John Cabrido SDB, Fr.John Dixon SBD, the Salesian

Communities of Kokopo and Boroko. In conducting the survey I am deeply grateful to

the Billy, Banako, and Ka’akau families, and Christopher Torona in the Autonomous

Region of Bougainville; the Ikalum family, Br. Otto Kaulan, Sam Raralo, and Michael

Rabia in East New Britain; and the Ignatius family, Dominic Lorpo and Ralph Utunga in

West New Britain—and many others, some of whom wished to remain anonymous. I

would also like to acknowledge financial assistance provided by the Commonwealth Schol-

arships Commission.

Please direct all correspondence to Shaun Larcom, Centre for Development, Environ-

ment and Policy,SOA S, University of London, United Kingdom; e-mail: sl74@soas.ac.uk.

Law & Society Review, Volume 49, Number 1 (2015)

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C2015 Law and Society Association. All rights reserved.

179

under Section 299 of Papua New Guinea’s Criminal Code Act

2013 labeled Wilful Murder.

Despite being a crime, which can and does attract the high-

estpossibleprisonsentences,paybackisstillpracticedinmany

parts of Papua New Guinea including the New Guinea Islands.

While there are no data on its prevalence, some believe that it is

more widely accepted and practiced in rural areas, where the

population is considered less sophisticated and the reach of the

post-colonial state is particularly weak.

1

This view is articulated

by Papua New Guinea’s national newspaper, the Post-Courier

(2010), which stated that payback killers should “leave their ter-

rible ‘customs or culture’ behind in their villages.” Such a state-

ment is consistent with Merry’s (2003: 964) observation that

some post-colonial urban elites tend to portray themselves as

progressive while characterising rural communities as being

“steeped in old cultural practices ... that they are not willing to

abandon.”

While the Papua New Guinean courts once attempted to dis-

tinguish customary motivations from more malevolent ones, they

effectively no longer do. Indeed, the state seems to have taken aim

at customary practices that are contrary to current Western norms,

with the purpose of eradicating them through criminal law. In

addition to the increasingly tough stance taken by the courts

toward payback (see below), parliament has recently increased the

penalties for those convicted of killing alleged sorcerers. In 2013,

parliament passed the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act 2013 that

applies the death penalty to the new crime of Wilful Murder of a

Person on Account of Accusation of Sorcery (Section 229A) and

repealed the Sorcery Act 2013.

2

These amendments were partly in

response to some highly publicized killings and pressure from

human rights groups to deter them (Amnesty International 2013).

While the killing of alleged sorcerers differs from payback (which

is akin to retributive homicide),

3

these recent moves underscore

the state’s increasing tendency to use criminal law to eradicate vio-

lent customary practices and to transform society.

States elsewhere have had various degrees of success in trans-

forming society through criminal law: for instance, the practice of

1

Tothe best of my knowledge there are no data (either historical or current) on pay-

back killings in Papua New Guinea. This is a longstanding data deficiency (see Trompf

1994). However, they do continue in both rural and urban areas; for instance, see Radio

New Zealand International (2014), Michael (2013), and Kelola (2010).

2

The Sorcery Act 1974 deemed certain types of sorcery as a crime and widened the

defence of provocation for those who committed homicide motivated by notions of sorcery.

3

Trompf (1994: 81) makes a distinction between three different types of intentional

homicide in a Melanesian context: “revenge killings” (payback); “executions” (which would

include the sanctioned killing of an alleged sorcerer), and “murder.”

180 Internalizing Legal Norms