Also probably should be for new cases - if there is a big backlog, they will continue to skew the results. Political elites are elected office holders or are political appointees. Institutional elites include high members of key institutions. This will vary depending on the country. Examples may include church, military, ethnic groups, and political parties.
Unit is number of cases.
Media reports, informed observers. This is difficult as we have no way of knowing the number of crimes or potential suspects involved, nor whether the final disposition is fair or not. Also the universe depends on such things as the level of corruption. Conceivably, in a very honest system, the number would start and remain low, as it would in a very corrupt one with a dependent judiciary. Thus the target setting and relevance of the indicator will depend on the specific situation.