Criminal justice client rehabs are available as being a far better option than prison time or heavy fines for those who have already been convicted of any type of drug or alcohol related crime. For example, someone who has been in prison for driving drunk of alcohol or drugs may qualify to obtain rehabilitation services for problem as an alternative to serving time in prison. The judge might order the individual receive treatment, either alone or together with other consequences. First time offenders specifically in many cases are given the ability to go with a criminal justice client rehab as an alternative to other sentencing, and it is highly recommended that they take advantage of it if it's a possibility. The idea behind criminal justice client rehabs is that it is much more efficient and effective to invest commitment into rehabilitation than punishment. Much research has been done to find out how effective this approach 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 who take part in rehab have better probability of remaining out of the judicial system after rehab.