Make Notes On Legal New Jersey Jury Instructions Forms For Free

The judge will advise the jury that it is the sole judge of the facts and of the credibility (believability) of witnesses. He or she will note that the jurors are to base their conclusions on the evidence as presented in the trial, and that the opening and closing arguments of the lawyers are not evidence.

During the course of this trial you will be permitted to take notes if you feel this would help you. I emphasize that you are permitted, not required, to take notes. What you do or do not write down is a strictly personal matter with each individual juror. No one else will have a right to see your notes at any time.

Jury understanding increased to 48% when a sample of jurors were also given a one-page written summary of the judge's legal instructions (Table 1). The study, interestingly, found that younger jurors had the highest level of understanding of the oral instructions on the law (Table 2).

Jury instructions should ideally be brief, concise, non-repetitive, relevant to the case's details, understandable to the average juror, and should correctly state the law without misleading the jury or inviting unnecessary speculation.

(1) Members of the jury, now it is time for me to instruct you about the law you must follow in deciding this case. (2) I will start by explaining your duties and the general rules that apply in every criminal case. (3) Then I will explain the elements of the crimes that the defendant is accused of committing.

When a claim in a civil court is disputed, the court will give instructions to the parties on how they are to prepare the case. The instructions are known as "directions".