Criminal justice client rehabs can be considered being a far better option than jail time or significant fines for individuals who have already been convicted of any sort of alcohol or drug related crime. For instance, a person who has been in prison for driving drunk of alcohol or drugs may qualify to receive treatment services for his or her problem as an alternative to serving time in jail. The judge may even order that the individual receive rehab, either alone or in addition to other consequences. First-time offenders in particular will often be given the ability to select a criminal justice client rehab instead of other sentencing, and it is well-advised that they take advantage of it if it is a possibility. The idea behind criminal justice client rehabs is that it is way more efficient and effective to invest time and energy into rehab than punishment. Much research has been done to observe how effective this strategy is on recidivism rates, i.e. if the criminal justice client returns or not to criminal justice system following treatment. All indicators appear to be quite positive, and criminal justice clients that do experience rehabilitation have a much better chance of remaining out of the system following rehabilitation.