BOOK I
GENERAL PART

TITLE III
CIRCUMSTANCES

SINGLE CHAPTER
GENERAL RULES

Article 53. Recurrence

1. Any person who commits a crime of intent individually or under any form of joint participation that is punishable with effective imprisonment superior to 6 months, after having received final sentence of an effective penalty of imprisonment superior to 6 months due to a previous crime of intent, and it be found that, according to the circumstances of the case, the previous sentence or sentences have failed to serve as sufficient warning against crime to the perpetrator, the same shall be considered a repeat offender.

2. There is no recurrence if, between the commissions of one and the other crime, more than four years have elapsed, not considering the time that the perpetrator has been subject to a procedural measure, penalty or security measure involving deprivation of liberty.

3. In the event of recurrence, the minimum limit of the penalty applicable to the crime is increased by one-third and the maximum limit remains unchanged, however the aggravation cannot exceed the measure of the heaviest penalty applied in previous convictions.