Criminal justice clients are a large portion of clientele who take part in alcohol and drug treatment centers in Athens and across the nation. Judicial systems in the country often find it more helpful to rehabilitate men and women who have found their way into the criminal justice system for drug related crimes, instead of punishing them in vain with time in jail and other penalties. It has proven more successful to handle the trouble of drug or alcohol addiction directly, rather than enforce these sorts of penalties. Most who do not end up in alcohol and drug rehab will often turn right back up in the criminal justice hamster wheel, while criminal justice clients in alcohol and drug rehab frequently don't make the same mistakes and have a far better chance at staying abstinent and away from the court system entirely.