In Canada and England and Wales, certain convicted persons may be designated as dangerous offenders and subject to a longer, or indefinite, term of imprisonment in order to protect the public.
Other countries, including Denmark, Norway, and parts of the United States have similar provisions of law.
The question of a person's dangerousness predominately occurs when decisions are being considered regarding the future safety of the public at various stages through a suspect or defendant's journey through the criminal justice system.
[3] According to Corrections Canada, on average 24 dangerous offenders are admitted to the Canadian prison system each year.
The dangerous offender provisions have been found constitutional: "The individual, on a finding of guilty, is being sentenced for the 'serious personal injury offence' for which he was convicted, albeit in a different way than would ordinarily be done.
"[4] On 17 October 2006, the Canadian government introduced legislation that made it easier for Crown prosecutors to obtain dangerous offender designations.
[citation needed] In Denmark, offenders who commit dangerous crimes, such as murder, arson, assault, rape, child molestation or robbery may receive a "custody sentence" (Danish: forvaringsdom), which lacks a definite time period.
28 The assessment of dangerousness is a statutory part of the law on a defendant being sentenced for specified violent, sexual or terrorism offences.