BOOK I
GENERAL PART

TITLE III
JURIDICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE ACT

CHAPTER IV
CHOICE AND DETERMINATION OF PENALTIES

SECTION II
RECIDIVISM

Article 75
Prerequisites

1- Whoever commits a crime of intent by himself or under any form of participation which should be punished with effective imprisonment superior to 6 months, and who after having been sentenced to an effective imprisonment penalty by a definitive decision, is punished as recidivist, if, according to the circumstances of the case, the agent should be blamed for the fact that the previous sentence or sentences didn’t serve as a sufficient warning against crime.

2- The previous crime for which the agent has been sentenced does not count for recidivism if, between its perpetration and that of the next crime, more than 5 years have elapsed; the time during which the agent has been subjected to a custodial procedure measure, penalty or security measure is not counted for that time-limit.

3- Sentences passed by foreign courts count for recidivism as stated in the above numbers, provided that the act constitutes a crime under Portuguese law.

4- Penalty prescription, amnesty, generic pardon and indult do not hinder the verification of recidivism.


Article 76
Effects

1- In case of recidivism, the minimum limit of the applicable penalty is increased by one third and the maximum limit remains unchanged. The Aggravation shall not exceed the measure of the most severe penalty applied in the previous sentences.

2- The rules concerning the relatively indeterminate sentence, when applicable, prevail over the rules for punishing recidivism.