There are two important steps to departing from the minimum sentences required by the Criminal Punishment Code:
1. The court must determine if there is evidence of mitigating circumstances that would support a downward departure sentence.
2. The court must decide if it should impose a downward departure sentence.
The decision to impose a downward departure sentence is entirely at the discretion of the judge. In other words, the judge is not required to impose a downward departure sentence even if they find evidence to support one.