CBS news reports the following tonight (emphasis added):

A judge has ordered Lindsay Lohan to return to rehab instead of jail for a failed drug test, telling her she was an addict and faced jail time if she relapsed again.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox ordered Lohan to remain at the Betty Ford Center until Jan. 3 and report back to court in late February.

A prosecutor had advocated a six-month jail sentence for the actress, but Fox opted for rehab after reviewing filings by probation and rehab officials and a letter written by Lohan.

Lohan cried after hearing the sentence.

The judge acknowledged that Lohan, 24, has been in and out of court and rehab since a pair of high-profile arrests in 2007. He told the actress that he would not be manipulated by her, but was giving her a final chance to stay clean.

Ms. Lohan is not the most dangerous criminal out there, but her dangerousness, such as it may be, is not what makes this story newsworthy.  What makes it newsworthy is its exposure of the joke of "rehabilitation" as a component of sentencing.

The defense bar relentlessly pushes rehab as the alternative to jail.  The endless Lindsay Lohan saga shows what rehab actually means, to wit, zip.  And for those believing that this is really a "final chance," well, there's this bridge in Brooklyn...

Our legal system doesn't know the meaning of "final chance"  --  unless you're a victim.  That's when the real final chance shows up.