Criminal justice clients are a large percentage of clients who are currently taking part in drug and alcohol treatment facilities in Columbia, California and across the nation. Court systems in the U.S. often find it more effective to treat men and women who have wound up in the court system for drug related crimes, rather than penalizing them to no avail with time in jail and other penalties. It has proven more helpful to address the problem of addiction directly, than to enforce such penalties. Most who do not end up in alcohol and drug rehab will frequently wind back up in the criminal justice system, whilst criminal justice clients in drug treatment generally don't fall back into drug use and have a much better chance at staying sober and out of the court system entirely.