TRADITIONALLY, IT HAS BEEN ASSUMED THAT CASELOAD PRESSURE MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE OFFICIALS TO HANDLE CASES IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAL REQUIREMENTS OF DUE PROCESS; THUS A HEAVY USE OF PLEA NEGOTIATIONS AND CASE DISMISSALS HAS EMERGED. IN 1975, STUDIES BY HEUMANN AND FEELEY INDICATED THAT CASELOAD PRESSURE DOES NOT HAVE THE PERVASIVE EFFECT THAT HAS LONG BEEN ATTRIBUTED TO IT. IN THE FIRST STUDY, WHICH BUILDS UPON HEUMANN AND FEELEY'S RESEARCH, CHANGES IN CASELOADS ARE EXAMINED FROM A MICROPERSPECTIVE USING A SAMPLE OF 816 ADULT FELONY CASES DISPOSED OF DURING 1972-1973 IN THE COOK COUNTY (ILL.) CIRCUIT COURT. THOSE THREE FACETS OF COURTROOM OPERATIONS EXAMINED AS VARIABLES INCLUDED GUILTY PLEA DECISIONS, THE SENTENCE IN GUILTY PLEA CASES, AND THE DECISION TO PURSUE A CASE FOR TRIAL. THE NUMBER OF CASES ON A GIVEN JUDGE'S DOCKET AND THE NUMBER OF CASES PENDING IN THE ENTIRE SYSTEM WERE USED AS INDICATORS OF CASELOAD PRESSURE, AND MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS WAS PERFORMED ON ALL VARIABLES. RESULTS SHOW THAT NO VARIABLES WERE STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT, AND THAT NEITHER THE PROBABILITY OF A GUILTY PLEA OCCURRING, THE SENTENCE GIVEN IN A GUILTY PLEA, NOR THE DECISION TO PURSUE A CASE TO TRIAL VARY WITH CASELOAD PRESSURE. IF THE TRADITIONAL CONCEPT OF CASELOAD PRESSURE IS REJECTED, AND IT IS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT CRIMINAL JUSTICE PERSONNEL ATTEMPT TO MAXIMIZE SELF-INTEREST, THEN INSIGHTS INTO THE OPERATIONS OF CRIMINAL COURTS CAN BE GAINED BY VIEWING THE SYSTEM FROM AN ORGANIZATION PERSPECTIVE. IN THE SECOND STUDY, A SET OF AGGREGATE DATA ON CHICAGO (ILL.) CRIMINAL COURT OUTPUTS FOR THE SAME PERIOD IS EXAMINED USING THE SAME VARIABLES. RESULTS SHOWED THAT EACH OF THE THREE VARIABLES HAD A SIGNIFICANT, POSITIVE IMPACT UPON THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE. WHILE CHANGES IN CASELOAD DID NOT APPEAR TO AFFECT THE WAY IN WHICH CASES WERE PROCESSED, THEY DID APPEAR TO RESULT IN HIGHER LEVELS OF OUTPUTS (I.E., MORE CASES WERE PROCESSED USING THE SAME SET OF DECISION RULES). OBSERVATION AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSES OF DATA REVEAL THAT CASES DISPOSED OF BY TRIALS WERE CONSIDERED UNSATISFACTORY BY COURT PERSONNEL, AND WHEN WORKLOADS ARE MORE PRESSING, DEFENDANTS WHO PURSUE A CASE TO TRIAL ARE MORE SEVERELY PENALIZED. TABULAR DATA AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (DAG)