75 CHAPTER 9 Information Gathering and Verification in Systemic Trial Monitoring Trial-monitoring programmes rely primarily on observing case hearings to gather information, but they may also draw on other sources, such as documents and interviews. The present chapter outlines how to identify cases to monitor. It provides good practices regarding the actual monitoring and recording of hearings. It describes practical considerations that monitoring staff should take into account in conducting interviews to gather information.105 Since direct interviews may not always be possible, this chapter also describes good practices in using questionnaires as means to obtain information relevant to monitoring activities. It discusses the need to be informed of media reports on trials or other issues that concern the programme. Finally, the chapter notes a few points on the treatment of confidential or sensitive information gathered by monitoring personnel. 9.1 Identification of cases to monitor according to monitoring priorities The identification and selection of cases to monitor will depend on a programme’s focus and objectives. Although systemic monitoring programmes have a broad, general mandate, they may nonetheless concentrate on certain types of cases, such as criminal trials.106 A first step for programme managers, therefore, is to prepare general guidance for legal analysts and monitors on the types of cases and courts to be monitored. Within these general categories, a broad plan and more specific criteria for case selection should be established. The plan should take into account the need to cover a sufficient, representative sample of cases to enable the monitoring programme to draw well-reasoned conclusions. This will usually require that the selected cases, as a whole, result in monitoring different courts, judges, types of crime, types of cases in civil or administrative justice, and geographic areas. To identify priority cases, a variety of elements that can be tracked in court records need to be taken into account. These may include the classification of the crime; the age of the perpetrator or victim; their ethnicity, in the in case of interethnic crime; or other factors. However, to identify other priority aspects, such as the mental capacity of parties or the motivation of a crime in cases of hate crimes, the substance of a case may need to be reviewed. When monitors assume primary responsibility for case identification and case selection, programme guidelines or instructions should be provided on these responsibilities. It is important for supervisors to provide regular oversight of how cases are chosen, to ensure that overall case selection results in a sample representative enough to meet the programme’s objectives. Some courts may be inclined to steer monitors towards cases heard by model judges, and there may be a natural tendency among monitors to seek out judges who are more efficient in providing hearing schedules or more sympathetic to monitoring. Managers must ensure that overall case selection is consistent 105  Information gathering depends on access to courts, documents and individuals; Chapter 4 discusses access issues in more detail. 106  See Chapter 1.3, “Description of the different trial monitoring methodologies”.