Criminal Code Warning: this is not an official translation. Under all circumstances the original text in Dutch language of the Criminal Code (Wetboek van Strafrecht) prevails

Chapter Three. Detention in an Institution for Persistent Offenders 
Section 38m 
1.  The court may, ex officio or on application of the Public Prosecution Service, order the detention of 
the defendant in an institution for persistent offenders, if: 
1°.  the offence committed by the defendant is a serious offence for which pre-trial detention may 
be imposed; 
2°.  in the five years prior to the offence committed by the defendant, he has been convicted of a 
serious offence at least three times in a final judgment and sentenced to a punishment or 
measure involving deprivation of liberty, to a measure involving restriction of liberty or to 
community service or community service has been imposed on him by an irrevocable 

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punishment order, the offence was committed after enforcement of these punishments or 
measures and moreover, it should be taken seriously into account that the defendant will again 
commit a serious offence, and 
3°.  the safety of persons or property requires imposition of the measure.