This Bench Book contains specimen directions for judges to give to the jury in Crown Court trials.
Directions provide the guidance which goes into the judge’s charge to the jury to assist in deciding the guilt or innocence of the defendant.
NOTE: The Bench Book was last revised in 2015 and while standard directions from this publication may still be relied upon by Crown Court judges they also rely on the Crown Court Compendium Part 1 published by JSB(NI)’s sister organisation the Judicial College in England & Wales. That publication, which is also publicly available, provides more up-to-date specimen directions in important areas such as sexual offences.