1. A deviation or divergence from a standard rule, regulation, measurement, or course of conduct (an impermissible departure from sentencing guidelines).
downward departure. In the federal sentencing guidelines, a court’s imposition of a sentence more lenient than the standard guidelines propose, as when the court concludes that a criminal’s history is less serious than it appears. [Cases: Sentencing and Punishment 850. C.J.S. Criminal Law § 1479.]
forbidden departure. An impermissible deviation from the federal sentencing guidelines based on race, sex, national origin, creed, religion, or socioeconomic status.
lateral departure. In the federal sentencing guidelines, a sentence allowing a defendant to avoid incarceration through community or home confinement.
— Also termed lateral sentencing. [Cases: Sentencing and Punishment 800–802. C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 1479, 1483.]
upward departure. In the federal sentencing guidelines, a court’s imposition of a sentence harsher than the standard guidelines propose, as when the court concludes that a criminal’s history did not take into account additional offenses committed while the prisoner was out on bail. [Cases: Sentencing and Punishment 814. C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 1479, 1526.]
2. A variance between a pleading and a later pleading or proof (the departure between the plaintiff’s pleadings and the actual evidence was significant).
3. A party’s desertion of the ground (either legal or factual) taken in the immediately preceding pleading and resort to another ground (the defendant’s departure from the asserted alibi necessitated a guilty plea). — depart, vb.
