New Criminal Jury Instructions Are Coming

The Judicial Council of California has just approved new, "plain-English" criminal jury instructions. These new jury instructions will be available for use starting in January of 2006.  Although their use is not mandatory, pundits expect that they will eventually replace the venerable CALJIC instructions in most instances.

Drafts of the new California criminal jury instructions are available on the California Courts' web site.  The final, approved instructions will be available for free on the California Courts' web site by January. LexisNexis and Thomson⁄West are also expected to offer versions in print and on their respective online services.

A press release announcing the approval of the new instructions is available in PDF format.