The Portuguese Law 35/2023 provides for the definition, foundations and objectives of mental health policy, enshrines the rights and duties of people in need of mental health care and regulates the restrictions of these rights and the guarantees of protection of their freedom and autonomy.

This new Mental Health Law, which replaces Law No. 36/98 of 24 July, in force for more than 20 years, ends the possibility of an automatic extension of the hospitalization of noncustodial offenders.

The repeal of Article 92(3) of the Penal Code promises to provoke disagreement in society, as it ends the possibility of an automatic prolongation of the hospitalization, since it puts an end to the "life imprisonment" for the unfit, even if the state of criminal dangerousness, which gave rise to the hospitalization, is maintained.

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