The study focuses on charging policy, the bail-setting process, and the disposition of riot cases. Also explored are the problem of preventive detention and the tension between due process and efficient judicial administration. Wherever possible, use is made of relevant information on the operation of the Cook County criminal system under normal conditions and during past mass arrest situations. The analysis of justice during the 1968 riot is based primarily on a statistical analysis of the official arrest and court records of 2,189 adults arrested between 7 p.m. on April 4 and 7 p.m. on April 11 and processed through the emergency branch of the Municipal Division of the Cook County Circuit Court. The evidence indicated that under stress, the lower criminal courts of Chicago had allowed the rights of defendants to be seriously abused. This abuse included poor conditions in the jails; the inability of arrestees to contact friends, relatives, or lawyers, or to post bail; the authorities' refusal to conduct bond reduction hearings until days after the riot was officially proclaimed to be over, and the system's hostility toward volunteer lawyers and law students. Many of the deficiencies characterizing the 1968 mass arrests were rooted in serious structural infirmities in the criminal process which were only magnified by the mass arrests. Only basic social and judicial reforms will ultimately secure fair and effective administration of criminal justice. Tabular data are provided, along with 481 footnotes. (Author summary modified)