Criminal justice clients are a significant percentage of clients who are currently taking part in drug and alcohol treatment facilities in Los Angeles and in the USA. Judicial systems in the country are finding it more helpful to treat people who have found their way into the criminal justice system for drug related crimes, instead of penalizing them to no avail with time in jail and other penalties. It has proven more effective to deal with the problem of addiction more straightforwardly, than to invoke such penalties. Most who do not end up in drug and alcohol treatment will often turn right back up in the criminal justice system, while criminal justice clients in drug and alcohol rehab often don't make the same mistakes and have a better chance at staying sober and away from the court system entirely.