The combination of J = 1 and T = 1 causes similar effects to setting T=1 on a non Thumb-aware processor. That is, the next instruction executed causes entry to the Undefined Instruction exception. Entry to the exception handler causes the processor to re-enter ARM state, and the handler can detect that this was the cause of the exception because J and T are both set in SPSR_und.

MSR cannot be used to change the J bit in the CPSR.

The placement of the J bit avoids the status or extension bytes in code running on ARMv5TE or earlier processors. This ensures that OS code written using the deprecated CPSR, SPSR, CPSR_all, or SPSR_all syntax for the destination of an MSR instruction continues to work.