This part of Appendix B compiles the departure provisions as they were last provided in the 2024 edition of the Guidelines Manual. At the time these departure provisions were promulgated, they represented grounds the United States Sentencing Commission (“Commission”) expressly authorized in the Guidelines Manual as a basis for a sentence outside of the otherwise applicable guideline range. These provisions, which were based on various circumstances of the offense, specific personal characteristics, and certain procedural history of the case, reflected the Commission’s determination that such circumstances were outside of the heartland of offenses addressed by the guidelines and warranted the court’s consideration in imposing sentence. As last provided in the 2024 Guidelines Manual, a “departure” means “imposition of a sentence outside the applicable guideline range or of a sentence that is otherwise different from the guideline sentence” and “assignment of a criminal history category other than the otherwise applicable criminal history category, in order to effect a sentence outside the applicable guideline range.” USSG §1B1.1, comment. (n.1(F)) (Nov. 2024). “Downward departure” means a “departure that effects a sentence less than a sentence that could be imposed under the applicable guideline range or a sentence that is otherwise less than the guideline sentence.” “Upward departure” means a “departure that effects a sentence greater than a sentence that could be imposed under the applicable guideline range or a sentence that is otherwise greater than the guideline sentence.” Id.
In 2025, the Commission amended the Guidelines Manual to remove departures and policy statements relating to specific personal characteristics. (See USSG App. C, amend. 836 (effective Nov. 1, 2025). The Commission sought to make these changes to better align the requirements placed on the court and acknowledge the growing shift away from the use of departures provided for within the Guidelines Manual in the wake of United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), and subsequent decisions. The Commission envisioned and framed this 2025 amendment to be outcome neutral. As such, the removal of departures from the Guidelines Manual does not reflect a determination by the Commission that the rationale underlying the deleted departure provisions is no longer informative or that a court should no longer consider such facts for purposes of determining the appropriate sentence. The removal of departures does not limit the information courts may consider in imposing a sentence and it is the Commission’s intent that judges who would have relied upon facts previously identified as a basis for a departure will continue to have the authority to rely upon such facts to impose a sentence outside of the applicable guideline range as a variance under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a).