Examination of the literature on complex organizations and of descriptive studies on the juvenile court suggest that agencies comprising the court's task environment may have a significant impact on court dispositions. These findings indicate that juveniles handled in the two satellite offices received more severe types of dispositions and longer period of time on the disposition of probation than did their counterparts in the court's main office. Examination of the interview and observational data gathered at the three offices indicates that police-court relations were a primary determinant of these differential decisionmaking patterns. Implications of these findings for further research are discussed. Study data and 21 references are supplied. (Author abstract modified)