Criminal justice client rehabs are available as a considerably better option than time in jail or significant fines for individuals who have already been convicted of any kind of drug or alcohol related crime. As an example, anyone who has been in prison for driving drunk of drugs or alcohol may be eligible to get rehab services because of their problem rather than serving time in prison. The judge might even order the individual receive rehab, either alone or along with other consequences. First-time offenders specifically in many cases are given the opportunity to choose a criminal justice client rehab rather than other sentencing, and it is highly recommended that they make the most of it if it's a choice. The concept behind criminal justice client rehabs is that it is much more effective and efficient to invest time and energy into treatment than punishment. Much research has been carried out to observe how effective this strategy is on recidivism rates, i.e. if the individual returns or not to criminal justice system following rehab. All indicators appear to be quite positive, and criminal justice clients that do experience rehab have a better probability of remaining out of the judicial system after treatment.