North Carolina Pattern Jury Instructions

Instructions are created and compiled throughout the year by The Pattern Jury Instruction Committee, made up of trial judges assisted by the School of Government and supported by the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts. The committee consists of two subcommittees that meet monthly from August through June. One subcommittee creates instructions for civil court and the other creates instructions for criminal court. At each meeting, the subcommittees review instructions they think need to be updated because the law has changed, or decide that a new instruction should be drafted to cover a previously uncovered area of the law. When the committee finishes a new instruction or revises an existing instruction, they set these instructions aside to be part of entire packages that are published and distributed as supplements each year.

Updates may be purchased in hard copy format or as part of an electronic version. 

Current pattern jury instructions are available, for free, in PDF format. A summary of the most recent supplements to the pattern jury instructions is available, for free.