United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines - Guidelines Basics

Guidelines Basics

The Guidelines determine sentences based primarily on two factors:

1. the conduct associated with the offense (the offense conduct, which produces the offense level)
2. the defendant's criminal history (the criminal history category)

The Sentencing Table in the Guidelines Manual shows the relationship between these two factors; for each pairing of offense level and criminal history category, the Table specifies a sentencing range, in months, within which the court may sentence a defendant. For example, for a defendant convicted on an offense with a total offense level of 22 and a criminal history category of I, the Guidelines recommend a sentence of 41–51 months, considering the year of the offense to be the same as the year of the guidelines. If, however, a person with an extensive criminal history (Category VI) committed the same offense in the same manner in the same modern timeline and not during the older guideline periods, the Guidelines would recommend a sentence of 84–105 months.