NJ · jury_instructions
N.J. Model Criminal Jury Charge, N.J.S.A. Non 2C
Lesser Included Offenses
Approved 2/25/02
LESSER INCLUDED OFFENSES1
The law requires that the Court instruct the jury with respect to possible (lesser) included
offenses, even if they are not contained in the indictment. Just because the Court is instructing
you concerning these offenses does not mean that the Court has any opinion one way or another
about whether the defendant committed these, or any, offenses. You should consider these
offenses along with those for which the defendant is indicted. However, you are not to render a
verdict on these offenses or answer the questio ns on the verdict sheet unless you find that the
State has failed to meet its burden with regard to the offense(s) in the indictment.
1 NOTE: 1. This charge should not be used in homicide cases.
2. This charge should not be u sed in cases where the lesser-included
offenses are contained in the statute; e.g., robbery and robbery while armed.
History
Approved 2/25/02
Provenance
- Source
- njcourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-20
- Edition
- 2026-08-20
- Content hash
9eb447472ef5997bf7938cf2f4fcb3b49ffbb2b94b21b4589c4ead73f5f5e1a2
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.