A Dictionary of Dutchness

PBC

The Pieter Baan Centrum (PBC) is the psychiatric assessment clinic used by the prosecution service. This is the deeply unpopular institute where people suspected of serious crimes are often sent for observation. The clinic, in Utrecht, is an official prison. The centre carries out around 200 psychiatric observations a year. In 2009 it carried out its first posthumous investigation, examining the state of mind of Karst Tates, the man who killed seven people when he drove his car into a crowd of people watching the royal parade on Queen’s Day.