Criminal justice client rehabs can be considered as being a considerably better option than incarceration or significant fines for those who have already been convicted of any kind of alcohol or drug related crime. By way of example, somebody who has been in prison for driving while impaired of alcohol or drugs may be eligible to obtain treatment services because of their problem rather than serving time in prison. The judge may even order the individual receive treatment, either alone or together with other sentencing. First time offenders in particular in many cases are given the ability to choose a criminal justice client rehab as an alternative to other sentencing, and it is highly recommended that they benefit from it if it's an alternative. The theory behind criminal justice client rehabs is that it is far more effective and efficient to invest effort and time into treatment than enforcement of other consequences. Much research has been done to observe how effective this process is on recidivism rates, i.e. if the individual returns or not to criminal justice system following rehab. All indicators seem quite positive, and criminal justice clients that do experience rehabilitation have a much better probability of remaining out of the system after rehabilitation.