The Commission report summarized the criminal justice system in a flow chart that has been widely reproduced in criminal justice textbooks. The Commission also moved to introduce a methodology of system analysis that included mathematical modeling as a way to identify and evaluate effective changes. The Commission's contribution was important, but it also created continuing problems for understanding the system. These problems included the depiction of a unidirectional case flow, a focus on system processes and subsystem outcomes without equal attention to system outcomes, and the failure to address influences outside the system. Nevertheless, the Commission's concept of criminal justice had lasting and important impacts in higher education, criminal statistics, coordination and cooperation within the system, and intersystem coordination and cooperation. Reasons that the Commission's goal has not been achieved include bureaucratic barriers, philosophical barriers, and performance-measure barriers. In addition, the Commission can be criticized for emphasizing the system's effectiveness in reducing crime while giving little attention to how crime reduction could be achieved while ensuring justice, the most important goal of the system. Figures and 7 references