OPINION
Defendant Roxie Nicole Bolds (“Bolds”) challenges, on reasonableness grounds, the twenty-four-month sentence imposed by the district court following its revocation of Bolds’ four-year term of supervised release. Bolds argues that the district court committed procedural error by failing to adequately explain its upward departure *571 from the four to ten month advisory sentencing range contained in the United States Sentencing Commission’s (“Sentencing Commission”) policy statements regarding supervised release revocation sentences. For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM the sentence imposed by the district court.
I. BACKGROUND
On January 3, 2003, Bolds pled guilty to one count of aiding and abetting in the distribution of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 18 U.S.C. § 2. On March 21, 2003, the district court sentenced Bolds to fifty-seven months imprisonment followed by four years of supervised release. Bolds served this fifty-seven-month sentence and commenced her supervised release on April 4, 2006.
The terms of the supervised release imposed by the district court required Bolds to participate in a program, approved by her probation officer, for the treatment of narcotic addiction or drug or alcohol dependency and to report for regular drug screens. Bolds initially reported for the drug screens, but ceased to do so after June 6, 2006. Bolds missed two drug screens in June 2006 and three drug screens in July 2006. In early August 2006, Bobby Appleton (“Appleton”), the probation officer assigned to Bolds’ case, confronted Bolds about these missed drug screens and “gave her an absolute final warning, stating that she had already gone past the limit that [is] ordinarily allow[ed] before the court is notified and court action is requested.” J.A. at 36. Shortly thereafter, on August 16, 2006, Bolds missed another drug screen.
Instead of reporting for her drug screen on August 16, 2006, Bolds was arrested for shoplifting. Sargent Rita Barnett of the City of Ripley police arrested Bolds and three other persons for stealing merchandise, with an after tax value of over one thousand dollars, from a Wal-Mart store. Bolds and her co-conspirators put items in a shopping cart and, without paying for the items, took the cart out of the store pushing past an elderly Wal-Mart greeter who attempted to stop them. After putting the items in a vehicle, Bolds and her co-conspirators fled the scene and were eventually pulled over by the police who discovered a three-year-old child in the vehicle.
Based on these incidents, Appleton petitioned the district court to revoke Bolds’ supervised release on August 17, 2006. On August 22, 2006, pursuant to this petition, the district court issued an arrest warrant for Bolds for violations of the terms of her supervised release. Bolds was also subsequently charged with misdemeanor shoplifting in the local Tennessee court.
At her initial detention hearing in federal district court on September 1, 2006, Bolds was released on bond. The district judge then scheduled a supervised release hearing for September 28, 2006.
During early September 2006, Bolds refused to report to her probation officer and failed to appear for her drug screens. In response to these further violations of the terms of her supervised release, on September 7, 2006, Appleton filed a notification of additional violations and a request for bond revocation with the district court.
On September 28, 2006, Bolds failed to appear at her supervised release revocation hearing in the federal district court and also failed to appear in Tennessee court for her shoplifting charge. In response to her failure to appear, the district judge issued a second warrant for Bolds’ arrest.
After Bolds was re-apprehended, the district court held a supervised release *572 violation hearing on December 21, 2006. At this hearing, the district court heard testimony from Appleton and Sargent Barnett regarding Bolds’ violations of the terms of her supervised release. Based upon this undisputed testimony, the district court found Bolds in violation of the terms of her supervised release, which it accordingly revoked.
The district court then considered the appropriate penalty to impose for Bolds’ violation of the terms of her supervised release. Bolds argued for a sentence within the advisory range of four to ten months suggested by the Sentencing Commission’s supervised release revocation policy statements. 1 The government, in contrast, contended that due to Bolds’ blatant disregard of the conditions of her supervised release, a sentence of twenty-four months was more appropriate. In considering these arguments, the district judge noted that he was concerned by the “pattern of contempt for the Court and refusal to abide by mandatory conditions” exhibited by Bolds. The district judge also indicated that he considered Bolds’ shoplifting offense to be a “very serious crime” given the assault on the elderly greeter and the involvement of a minor. The district judge was especially concerned about the offense because it occurred within the context of Bolds’ refusal to abide by the conditions of her supervised release. See J.A. at 69 (“She has a history — a substantial history of not participating in drug screens. She was warned. And her response to this warning is to commit a serious crime.”). In particular, the district judge stated:
I won’t say that her offense is the most serious that I have seen in this context, but I will say that she is as consistently contumacious in her conduct as any defendant I am able to recall. That simply means that she is consistently refusing to abide by the mandatory requirements of this Court as anyone.
J.A. at 68. The district court further observed that Bolds had “never accepted responsibility” for her conduct in the shoplifting case which led it to the conclusion that “there is a significant need to protect the public from Ms. Bolds.” J.A. at 69. Finally, the district judge recognized the “need to deter others who are on supervised release, who may agree that these are suggestions, instead of requirements.” J.A. at 70.
Evaluating all of these factors, the district court imposed a sentence of twenty-four months imprisonment. The district judge explained:
As to a Guidelines sentence, I think one ought to have respect for Congress’s mandate in those regards. But I am charged with exercising my independent judgment and considering the factors of 3553. And, of course, I have discretion to sentence anywhere within the statutory limits, which is zero to 36 months.
It is also apparent to me that Ms. Bolds is not a candidate for further supervised release. There is nothing in this record that suggests she is going to comply with the conditions of supervised release, to [sic] the instructions of the probation officer, the instructions of the Court, or anybody else.
So for those reasons, I believe the government has made a correct recom *573 mendation, and a sentence of 24 months in this case is appropriate. I’m aware that Ms. Bolds is expecting a child ... But this is one of those sad cases where the child is probably better off if Ms. Bolds is in a controlled situation than the child would be if she is in the situation that she was in during the period she was on supervised release.
J.A. at 70-71. After the district court imposed its sentence, Bolds raised one further objection to the sentence on health grounds which was overruled.
On January 10, 2007, Bolds filed this timely appeal.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
A. The Appropriate Standard to Review Post -Booker Challenges to Supervised Release Revocation Sentences
While not an issue of first impression, the question of which standard governs our
post-Booker
review of sentences imposed upon revocation of supervised release has not been previously answered by this Court.
See, e.g., United States v. Lewis,
Prior to
Booker,
we “review[ed] the district court’s sentence upon revocation of a defendant’s supervised release
for
abuse of discretion.”
United States v. Washington,
This “plainly unreasonable” standard of review was drawn directly from 18 U.S.C. § 3742, the appellate review provision in the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (“Sentencing Act”), 18 U.S.C. § 3551,
et seq.
Sections 3742(a)(4) and 3742(b)(4), which remain intact post
-Booker,
provide, respectively, that the defendant or the government may appeal from a sentence for which there is no guideline, as are all supervised release revocation sentences, if it is “plainly unreasonable.” 18 U.S.C. §§ 3742(a)(4) and (b)(4) (2000). Likewise, § 3742(e)(4), which has now been excised by the Supreme Court in
Booker, see
In Justice Breyer’s remedial opinion in
Booker,
the Supreme Court excised § 3742(e) from the Sentencing Act in order to render the entire act compatible with the Court’s Sixth Amendment holding.
Pbst-Boofcer, the courts of appeals have struggled with the question of whether to continue to review supervised release revocation sentences under the “plainly unreasonable” standard or to apply the Booker “unreasonableness” review standard to such cases. In considering this question, the courts have confronted two issues: (1) whether, by announcing a standard of “unreasonableness” review in Booker, the Supreme Court intended to displace the “plainly unreasonable” standard that the courts had used in reviewing supervised release revocation sentences; and (2) whether there is any practical difference between these two standards.
From the twelve circuits, five different approaches have emerged.
2
The Fourth and Seventh Circuits have found that
Booker
did not displace the “plainly unreasonable” standard of review for supervised release revocation sentences and that review under this standard, while similar to review for “unreasonableness,” is not the
*575
same.
See United States v. Kizeart,
Having evaluated these various approaches, we find that, while the Supreme Court in
Booker
did not technically displace the “plainly unreasonable” standard contained in 18 U.S.C. §§ 3742(a)(4) and 3742(b)(4), there is no practical difference between
Booker’s
“unreasonableness” review and the “plainly unreasonable” standard in §§ 3742(a)(4) and 3742(b)(4). Rather than creating a new “unreasonableness” standard of review for supervised release revocation sentences, the Supreme Court in
Booker
was simply directing appellate courts to apply the same reasonableness standard that they use to review supervised release revocation sentences to their review of all sentences. Accordingly, for the reasons that follow, we hold that post-Booker, this Circuit will review supervised release revocation sentences in the same way that we review all other sentences&emdash;“ ‘under a deferential abuse of discretion standard’ for reasonableness.”
United States v. Lalonde,
The problem in determining whether the Supreme Court in Booker intended to replace the “plainly unreasonable” standard of review for supervised release revocation sentences with a reasonableness standard is that the Court excised 18 U.S.C. § 3742(e)(4), which provides for the “plainly unreasonable” standard of appellate review for supervised release revocation sentences, but left intact §§ 3742(a)(4) and 3742(b)(4) which permit a party to appeal such a sentence only on the grounds that it is “plainly unreasonable.” On the one hand, the excision of § 3742(e) suggests that the Court meant to replace all previous standards of sentencing review with its “reasonableness” standard. Indeed, the *576 Second Circuit has found such a conclusion to be compelled by Booker:
We recognize that subsections 3742(a)(4) and 3742(b)(4), which have not been excised, allow a defendant and the Government, respectively, to appeal a sentence for which there is no sentencing guideline on the ground that the sentence is “plainly unreasonable.” However, once the Court in its Remedy Opinion excised section 3742(e), which included subsection 3742(e)(4)’s standard of “plainly unreasonable” for review of a sentence for which there is no guideline, the Court is fairly understood as requiring that its announced standard of reasonableness now be applied not only to review of sentences for which there are applicable guidelines but also to review of sentences for which there are no applicable guidelines.
Fleming,
While the Second Circuit’s interpretation properly attempts to account for the excision of § 3742(e), it fails to account for the fact that Booker left sections 3742(a), 3742(b), and 3742(f) on the books, and it fails to account for the fact that (at least as far as our Circuit is concerned) our cases have relied upon both sections 3742(a)(4) and 3742(e)(4) in applying a “plainly unreasonable” standard. See Washington,147 F.3d at 491 . While section 3742(e), the standard of review section of the statute, may be gone, sections 3742(a) and 3742(b) which remain, still say that an appeal may not be brought unless the sentence is “plainly unreasonable” and section 3742(f) directs a court to invalidate a “sentence ... imposed for an offense for which there is no applicable sentencing guideline and [if the sentence] is plainly unreasonable.” These sections, by themselves, give us pause about accepting the Second Circuit’s approach, as does the fact that we are not dealing with the traditional Booker problem (mandatory Sentencing Guidelines), but with a form of sentencing (resentencing after violations of supervised release) that was discretionary before Booker and is discretionary after it.
Johnson,
Our hesitation in Johnson about finding that Booker displaced the standard of review for supervised release revocation sentences is supported by a careful reading of the Court’s opinions in Booker. As Judge Posner has aptly noted:
Nothing in either of the Court’s majority opinions in Booker suggests that limiting appellate review of sentences not based on the guidelines is needed to avoid the constitutional problem that required the invalidation of parts of the Sentencing Reform Act in order to save the rest of it. The constitutional problem was that judges were basing sentences on facts that they found — not a jury — and by a preponderance of the evidence rather than by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The Court held that for sentencing grounded in such a factfinding process to be mandatory violated the Sixth Amendment. Changing the standard of appellate review of guidelines sentences was necessary because the standard made the guidelines mandatory in appellate proceedings, complementing 18 U.S.C. § 3553(b), which made them mandatory at the sentencing stage. Since there are no guidelines sentences for violating a condition of supervised release, there was no occasion for the *577 Court in Booker to change the standard of appellate review of such sentences. The Court did not mention subsection [3742](e)(4), which governs the appellate review of nonguidelines sentences, because its decision was concerned only with guidelines sentences.
Kizeart,
On the contrary, the Supreme Court’s favorable references to appellate courts’ use of this standard when inferring a post- § 3742(e) review standard suggests that the Court was not attempting to articulate a new standard distinct from the “plainly unreasonable” standard, but rather that the Court understood its “reasonableness” review to be the same as that required by the “plainly unreasonable” standard. Two of our sister circuits have been understandably hesitant in reaching this conclusion because the statutory placement of the modifier “plainly” in front of “unreasonable” in §§ 3742(a), 3742(b), and 3742(e) suggests that there is a difference between a sentence being “unreasonable” and a sentence being “plainly unreasonable.”
See, e.g., Crudup,
Accordingly, we hold that there is no practical difference between the pre- Booker “plainly unreasonable” standard of review of supervised release revocation sentences and our post-Booker review of sentences for “unreasonableness.” Sentences imposed following revocation of supervised release are to be reviewed under the same abuse of discretion standard that we apply to sentences imposed following conviction. It is this standard which we now clarify in light of the Supreme Court’s recent guidance in Gall.
B. Post-Ua/Z Reasonableness Review
Post
-Booker,
we review a district court’s sentencing determination, “under a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard,” for reasonableness,
Gall,
Our review of sentences for reasonableness is not to be confused with the district court’s task to impose a sentence that is “sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes” of sentencing set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Reasonableness is the standard
appellate
courts use to evaluate the district court’s accomplishment of its sentencing task.
Gall,
1. Procedural Reasonableness Review
Our reasonableness analysis begins with a robust review of the “factors evaluated and the procedures employed by the district court in reaching its sentencing determination.”
4
United States v. Webb,
403
*579
F.3d 373, 383 (6th Cir.2005). A district court necessarily abuses its sentencing discretion if it “commit[s][a] significant procedural error, such as failing to calculate (or improperly calculating) the Guidelines range, treating the Guidelines as mandatory, failing to consider the § 3553(a) factors, selecting a sentence based on clearly erroneous facts, or failing to adequately explain the chosen sentence&emdash;including an explanation for any deviation from the Guidelines range.”
Gall,
First, we must ensure that the district court “correctly calculated] the applicable Guidelines range” which are “the starting point and initial benchmark” of its sentencing analysis.
5
Id.
In reviewing the district court’s calculation of the Guidelines, we still review the district court’s factual findings for clear error and its legal conclusions
de novo. Lalonde,
However, the advisory Guidelines range is only one of several factors that the district court must consider at sentencing.
6
See
18 U.S.C. § 3553(a). Thus, our second task is to ensure that the district judge gave “both parties the opportunity to argue for whatever sentence they deem appropriate” and then “considered all of the § 3553(a) factors to determine whether
*580
they support the sentence requested by [each] party.”
Gall,
After the district court’s evaluation of the parties’ arguments in light of the § 3553(a) sentencing factors, the district judge will impose a sentence and must explain his reasons for selecting the sentence imposed. Accordingly, our final task is to ensure that the district court has “adequately explain[ed] the chosen sentence to allow for meaningful appellate review and to promote the perception of fair sentencing.”
Id.
Reversible procedural error occurs if the sentencing judge fails to “set forth enough [of a statement of reasons] to satisfy the appellate court that he has considered the parties’ arguments and has a reasoned basis for exercising his own legal decision making authority.”
Rita,
“[W]hen ‘a defendant raises a particular argument in seeking a lower sentence, the record must reflect both that the district judge considered the defendant’s argument and that the judge explained the basis for rejecting it.’ ”
United States v. Jones,
If the district judge decides to depart from the advisory Guidelines range, “he must consider the extent of the deviation and ensure that the justification is sufficiently compelling to support the degree of the variance.”
Gall,
To summarize, in reviewing sentences for procedural reasonableness we must ensure that the district court: (1) properly calculated the applicable advisory Guidelines range; (2) considered the other § 3553(a) factors as well as the parties’ arguments for a sentence outside the Guidelines range; and (3) adequately articulated its reasoning for imposing the particular sentence chosen, including any rejection of the parties’ arguments for an outside-Guidelines sentence and any decision to deviate from the advisory Guidelines range.
2. Substantive Reasonableness Review
After we have found the district court’s sentencing decision to be procedurally sound, we must “then consider the substantive reasonableness of the sentence imposed under an abuse-of-discretion standard.”
Gall,
III. DISCUSSION
Bolds contends that her twenty-four month sentence is procedurally unreasonable 8 because “the district court failed to state why a 140% increase from the high end of the Guidelines was necessary.” Def. Br. at 10. In particular, she argues that because her supervised release violation conduct was already “taken into account by the Sentencing Commission when they promulgated the Guideline imprisonment range for a Class B offense by a defendant with a Criminal History Category of I” the district court could not simply rely upon this violation conduct in justifying an upward departure from the adviso *582 ry sentencing range of four to ten months, but rather was required to provide further explanation for the departure. Id. at 14. In opposition, the government argues that the district court properly considered that the § 3553(a) factors justified an upward departure from the sentencing range suggested in the Sentencing Commission’s policy statements. See Gov. Br. at 11-19. We find that the district court did not commit any significant procedural error in imposing Bolds’ sentence and agree with the government that the twenty-four month sentence was procedurally reasonable.
The district court accurately determined that the Sentencing Commission’s policy statements recommended a sentencing range of four to ten months. Likewise, the record demonstrates that the district court considered the § 3553(a) factors, including these advisory policy statements of the Sentencing Commission, as well as Bolds’ arguments for a lower sentence, and explained his reasons for imposing a twenty-four month sentence. The district court noted in detail the nature and circumstances of Bolds’ conduct in violating the terms of her supervised release, considering in particular her numerous failures to appear for drug screening, the facts of her shoplifting offense, and Bolds’ “drug problem.” J.A. at 67-69. The district court also recognized the “need for the sentence to protect the public from Ms. Bolds” based on her failure to accept responsibility for her actions and the “need to deter others who are on supervised release, who may agree that these are suggestions instead of requirements.” Id. at 69-70. The district court further considered whether incarceration would best serve Bolds and her baby’s medical needs. See id. at 71 (“I’m aware that Ms. Bolds is expecting a child, ... [b]ut this is one of those cases where the child is probably better off if Ms. Bolds is in a controlled situation than the child would be if she is in the situation that she was in during the period she was on supervised release.”). Finally, the district court considered the four to ten month sentencing range suggested by the Sentencing Commission’s policy statements, id. at 67, and the Sentencing Commission’s indication that the court should primarily sanction Bolds for her breach of trust in failing to abide by the conditions of her supervised release. See id. at 68.
In short, as required by our procedural reasonableness jurisprudence, the district court engaged in its own evaluation of the § 3553(a) factors and utilized its discretion to vary from the Sentencing Commission’s recommendations. The district court provided a sufficiently compelling justification for its departure from the Sentencing Commission’s recommendations — Bolds’ “consistently contumacious” conduct in failing to abide by the terms of her supervised release and the “seriousness” of these supervised release violations. J.A. at 68. The district court also explained how this twenty-four month sentence was necessary to serve the sentencing purposes in § 3553(a), including the need to deter others from such conduct, the need to protect the public from Bolds, and the need to provide Bolds and her child with necessary medical care. In light of the district court’s careful consideration of the § 3553(a) factors and thorough explanation of its reasons for imposing a twenty-four month sentence, we do not consider Bolds’ sentence to violate the requirements of procedural reasonableness.
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the sentence imposed by the district court is AFFIRMED.
Notes
. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 994(a)(3), the Sentencing Commission is required to issue either ''guidelines or general policy statements regarding the appropriate use of ... the provisions for modification of the term or conditions of supervised release and revocation of supervised release set forth in [18 U.S.C. 3583(e)].” (emphasis added). To date, the Sentencing Commission has chosen "to promulgate policy statements only.” U.S.S.G. ch. 7, pt. A, Introductory Comments (2006).
. We note, however, that, as a practical matter, there is essentially only a two-way circuit split between those circuits applying the "plainly unreasonable” standard of review (Fourth, Seventh) and those applying "unreasonableness” review (Second, Third, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh), with two circuits undecided (Sixth, Fifth), and two which have yet to confront the issue (First, D.C.).
. We have also been unable to discover any cases from either the Fourth or Seventh Circuits, which do recognize the distinction, in which the distinction between "unreasonable” and "plainly unreasonable” was outcome determinative.
. While our review of the district court's determination that the § 3553(a) factors justify the length of the particular sentence imposed is highly deferential, our inquiry into the procedures used by the district court in reaching such a conclusion is more searching. See
*579
Gall,
. Because there are no Guidelines for supervised release revocation sentences, we have directed that "[i]n imposing a term of imprisonment following revocation of supervised release, the district court must consider the policy statements contained in Chapter Seven of the Sentencing Guidelines [as well as] the relevant statutory factors listed in 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)."
Brown,
. Section 3553(a) requires a district court to consider the following factors when imposing a sentence:
(1) the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and characteristics of the defendant;
(2) the need for the sentence imposed
(A) to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law, and to provide just punishment for the offense;
(B) to afford adequate deterrence to criminal conduct;
(C) to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant; and
(D) to provide the defendant with needed educational or vocational training, medical care, or other correctional treatment in the most effective manner;
(3) the kinds of sentences available;
(4) the kinds of sentence and the sentencing range established for (A) the applicable category of offense committed by the applicable category of defendant as set forth in the guidelines ...
(5) any pertinent policy statement (A) issued by the Sentencing Commission ...
(6) the need to avoid unwarranted sentence disparities among defendants with similar records who have been found guilty of similar conduct; and
(7) the need to provide restitution to any victims of the offense.
18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) (2000).
. For supervised release revocation sentences, 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e) omits from the list of factors to be considered § 3553(a)(2)(A) ("the need of the sentence imposed to reflect the seriousness of the offense, to promote respect for the law, and to provide just punishment for the offense”) and § 3553(a)(3) ("the kinds of sentences available”).
See
18 U.S.C. § 3583(e) (2000). However, "it does not constitute reversible error to consider § 3553(a)(2)(A) when imposing a sentence for violation of supervised release, even though this factor is not enumerated in § 3583(e).”
Lewis,
. Bolds has not contested the substantive reasonableness of her sentence and we do not consider the issue on appeal.
See United States v. Layne,