Courtwatching can be a powerful tool to gather information and evidence about how legal outcomes emerge. The project can help identify patterns, policies, practices, offices, and individuals that are contributing to harm. Courtwatch data can be an important springboard for activist efforts, forming a basis for demands for change that can be shared through public events, reports, press releases, protests, letter-writing, electoral campaigns, or teach-ins.

This document gives a basic outline for how to start your own courtwatch focusing on issues of criminalization of survivors of violence or other community issues.