The Power to Change Lives, with Judge Mary Life Can Change In A Moment

This week on the show, we bring you the next Judge Judy, retired circuit Judge Mary Ann Chrzanowski.  I met her through Dr Judy Ho, who did the show earlier this year, Judge Mary and Dr Judy worked together on the tv shows The Doctors and Face the Truth.
 
Scary Mary, as she called herself to me, is a retired circuit judge from Michigan.  I found her moment to be inspiring and unique.
[1:10] Our guest for today is Judge Mary Chrzanowski. She works together with Doctor Judy Hoe in a television show. Doctor Judy Hoe recommended Marry to guest at our show. Judge Mary is a retired circuit judge from Macomb County, Michigan. She presided over a variety of cases like major felony cases, divorce cases and civil cases. [3:22] Judge Mary’s year of experience was seen so much in divorces. She saw good people at their very worst in criminal cases. She saw bad people at their very best. Mary cried when she remembered the cases and the victims; it was very traumatic. Mary loved being a job but she felt burned out. She applied for a job as a Federal Administrator Law Judge working for the Social Security Department for only nine months because she can’t tolerate sitting in a room revealing medical records 8 hours a day. [6:30] Mary’s moment is when her cousin, who is also a judge told her to become a lawyer and become a judge. So she went to a courtroom and watched them. After that, she told herself that she wants to be a judge. At the age of 18, there no stopping her. She finished college in 3 years and went to law school. Mary failed the bar 3 times and when she passed the bar, she ran for the judge at 28 years old. She lost but nothing can stop her dreams. After two years, she ran again and won. [9:00] At the age of 30, Mary was elected and took her office at 31. She enjoys being a judge for 24 years. Nothing gets easy for her. When she was studying, she studied hard to get what she wants. When she gets confused, she always thinks of her career in the future. [11:20] The judge that she watches at that time was her cousin Robert Chrzanowski. In that courtroom, was planted some seed almost like a switch for Mary that set her track to become a judge. But unfortunately, you have to be an attorney first before becoming a judge. The law in Michigan says you have to be an attorney for five years before becoming a judge. There was no law like that when Mary initially run. [14:20] Mary thought at that time was the ability of the judge to help people change their lives. Until now, Mary still gets e-mails and Facebook requests wanting to be her friends because she saves them by giving them direction in life. Mary loves the criminal aspect of her job because she can give them direction and hopefully save their life. Mary said that most criminals need structure. They need direction. They need somebody to motivate them. [16:48] In her courthouse, one of their judges said everybody needs a high school education. Everybody needs that structure. Everybody needs to be proud of an accomplishment. Mary did not forget that and integrated it herself. [17:40] Mary can save people, especially on drug addiction cases because she was an alcoholic before. She can relate to people and understand the issues in addiction. It enables Mary to do a great job. They have drug courts where Mary enjoys which is a specialized court where they get people in and give them attention to help them with their issues. [20:30] Mary said that our judicial system and our criminal justice system is one of two things. It should be both rehabilitation and punishment. If we don’t rehabilitate them and purely punish them, we are going to come back in through the revolving door. That is happening right now because there was no money to rehabilitate, the way people should be rehabilitated. Mary said that employers should give a convict a chance to get a job. [24:00] The hardest part of Mary’s job was to put people in jail, but we don’t have alternative ways for that. Th