Safety Valves: A Band-Aid Solution to the Ills of Mandatory Minimums?

This work examines the Supreme Court of Canada’s statutory safety valve proposal in the case of R. v. Lloyd as a solution to the problems presented by mandatory minimum sentences. The thesis develops a safety valve matrix which allows various valves to be plotted along broad-narrow and high-low discretion matrices. Following a review of the development of exemptions in Canadian jurisprudence, the paper then takes a comparative approach of analysis to look at three similarly placed jurisdictions – Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. By examining the statutory safety valves in use in these jurisdictions, this work concludes that a broad, high-discretion safety valve may be most effective in the Canadian context.