Criminal justice clients are a significant portion of clients who take part in drug and alcohol treatment programs in Mercer Island and across the nation. Judges in the U.S. often find it more beneficial to treat people who have found their way into the criminal justice system for crimes relating to drugs, rather than punishing them in vain with time in jail and other such rulings. It is proven to be more effective to handle the trouble of drug addiction directly, than to enforce these sorts of penalties. Most individuals who do not end up in drug and alcohol treatment will typically wind back up in the criminal justice system, while criminal justice clients in alcohol and drug rehab frequently don't make the same mistakes and have a better chance at staying abstinent and out of the court system entirely.