here at nbc news, good night. i'm not your mother. i am not your friend. i am your judge. >> i want them all to think somebody cared enough to slam them upside the head and say, wake up. >> you know what? i'm doing you a favor. >> she makes judge judy seem like a softy. >> you're not fooling me. >> this is drug court and they call her "scary mary." >> start with the litany of things you have done that you shouldn't be doing. >> she's working to keep them out of jail with an innovative program that tries to rehabilitate addicts and show them another way. tonight you'll see three people out of options and under her

thumb. the teenager -- >> oh, my gosh. >> the rock and roller -- >> this is my final chance. >> the sweet talker -- >> she's wise to every trick in the book because she's been there herself. >> i was going to lose everything that i had. >> she may scare them, but can she save them? >> you saw that you could actually change lives. >> yes. >> not just punish people? >> yes. >> i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." tonight "scary mary" presiding. the rolling hills outside detroit are where mary chrzanowski goes to get away from it all. >> i get on that bike and i pedal, and i get in my zone. it allows me to relieve stress.

>> stress that comes from her high-powered job and a reputation for striking fear in her rocourtroom. >> you want to be a tough guy? i'll let you get one punch. >> she's the iron-fisted judge known as "scary mary." >> do you remember the first time you heard the term "scary mary"? >> it was something i heard from a prisoner who said to my secretary, you work for "scary mary." >> mary chrzanowski keeps everyone on their toes. >> you're going to leave this courtroom now and get on it now. >> did you want to be known as a tough judge? >> yeah. i take the law seriously. i take my job seriously. and i wanted to be respected as being serious. >> but judge scary mary's real passion is drug court, a volunteer job that occasionally

allows her to show her compassionate side. >> you're doing this without using, which is great. >> great. >> but more often has her doling out tough love like a drill sergeant. >> i want them all to think that someone cared enough to slam them upside the head and say, wake up. >> what's the difference between this and rehab? >> we'll be on your back watching you. >> you've got them on a tight leash? >> oh, yes, very tight. >> it gives nonviolent drug offenders a chance to stay out of jail. they must pass frequent drug tests, undergo intensive counseling, and face judge mary for periodic progress reports.

relapse and they're at scary mary isom's mers -- mercy. >> no more documenting everything. >> for the better part of a year, "dateline" producers and crews were imbedded with participates from mary's drug court. addict number one, 15-year-old danielle. she's been battle her mom, blowing off classes, and doing drugs for years. >> you have a studious kid and then you have the ones who are out partying. she chose to be the ones who are doing the drugs.

>> i never thought i would start doing xanax or drinking cough syrup. >> addict number two is musician bob wright. for more than half his life, he's lived the role and played the part. he's now in the last stage of a three phase drug program. >> watching everybody get high and he's got to say no. that's a big challenge for him. >> my drug of choice was more. it didn't matter what it was. if you had it and we had more of it, we were good. >> cory. >> and finally our third addict, 24-year-old cory. his drug habit got worse as he moved up the restaurant ranks and became a cook. >> he knows the story. he knows the angles. cory knows how to fool people.

>> i've been thinking about you all week, honey. >> why is that? >> you're not doing as good as you told me you would. >> he was in phase two of the drug court program and six months from graduation. his life was a mess. the girl he loved just dumped him. judge mary was trying to set him straight at his monthly check in. >> it's okay to feel bad about the loss. it's okay to feel bad about it. >> i can't let it do the same thing to me it did before. i numbed myself every day. >> he was fired from his last restaurant job and he's living in his mother's basement. >> i love him dearly or i wouldn't be sitting here talking about him. if only he knew it. he's had so many chances. that is what's very concerning to me. i worry about it. i worry for him. >> servers, other cooks,

everybody was on something. the hard stuff i was on was oxycotin and heroin. >> cory drove to detroit to buy heroin. >> i want to get high. i don't want to just feel normal. i got my needle and i did it on the street right then and there. after i did it, i was gone. >> police found you in a car nodding off have drug par f-- >> the options were years plus in jail or you can take drug court. >> they own you during that period. >> absolutely. >> drug testing.

>> it was a lot to say yes to, but when they offered it to me, i said yeah, i want to do it. let's see if i can do it. >> scary mary will be on his case as only she can. cory is about to test her patience as only an addict can. coming up -- >> you are enabling her and it's got to stop. >> cory isn't the only one who will put her to the test. >> i started drinking. >> will scary mary live up to her nickname and lower the boom? >> we're not fooling around. start with the best writing experience. make it incredibly thin. add an adjustable kickstand, a keyboard, a usb port, and the freedom of touch. and, of course, make it run microsoft office,

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>> quiero fumar marihuana. i miss being able to do that. >> it's november 2012 and danielle is being driven by her

mother to a drop. that's street slang for peeing in a bottle. something scary mary makes her two three times a week. >> danielle just gradually became the leader of the house. she was the boss of the house. >> these kids need to learn authority and respect. >> if i had met you at the beginning of this program, describe where you were in life? >> i didn't really care about anybody or anything. >> she told me she hated me and wishes i would die. she treated me like her enemy. >> i was nasty. >> yeah, it was ugly. >> i was nasty to her. >> danielle has been using marijuana and pills for two years ever since she was 13. she's run away from home several

times and even attempted suicide. >> me and my mom were fighting. i don't remember exactly what happened. at one point, i took 60 benadryl and i would get my stomach pumped. that was absolutely terrible. >> did you really want to die? >> at that time, yeah, i did, but not anymore. >> that didn't stop her from using again. >> i start eed drinking and the there was weed on the table and i was like, why not. >> judge mary through her in juvenile jail for three weeks. >> she needed to learn we mean business. >> i saw her with the shackles on her legs. that was the hardest part for me. >> stop.

>> she's such a free spirit and for that, to have her chained, it broke my heart. >> counseling is mandatory in drug court and danielle uses it to vent. she blames her mom for their tortured relationship. >> your mom is not in group. >> my mom wouldn't apologize to me once. >> how is that danielle? >> it sucks. even when she goes and messes up, it won't be fine until i say i'm sorry. >> scary mary is acutely aware that changing the balance of power in danielle's relationship with her mom won't be easy and so far nothing has worked. but mary won't give up. >> i need two people who are committed to the program. you agreed you were going to be part of this team and try to assist your daughter.

you are enabling her and it's got to stop. when musician bob wright, bobby black, sings a song about hard times, it could be right out of his own story of addiction. ♪ >> it all started with pot, valium, and booze in his teens. then came opiates and by his early 20s he was hooked on heroin. >> i walked in one time and there was a guy dead against the wall in the dope den. i walked around him and went about my business. >> in april 2011, he shot up heroin in a donut shop bathroom. >> somebody called the cops. next thing i know one was coming over the wall and one was busting in the door. they let me out in hand cuffs. i was out of it. >> he was offered drug court instead of jail.

>> it's not a good neighborhood. not a good one to be in. >> is this the place you would buy? >> oh, yeah. places like this. i've had friends die. girlfriends die. i don't want to be part of that anymore. >> do you smoke more? what do you do to kind of replace it? >> play guitar. >> bob's career constantly puts him at risk. he performs in the last place an addict should be, a bar. >> there's a lot of people in the program that i'm in. they're like, we can never come see you play. >> bob was managing it fine until the fall of 2012 when he failed a drug test, just weeks before his graduation from drug court. >> he was doing well. >> you can't cut him slack? >> then we cut the next person slack and the whole program

falls apart. >> mary realized bob wasn't ready to be on his own, so she gave him six more months in the program. bob knows scary mary is trying desperately to get him to realize this is his last hope. >> a judge who was already familiar with final chances for herself. >> is it a little disturbing to realize you have a lot in common with the people sitting on the other side of that bench? coming up, it's personal. why judge mary knows exactly what the people in her courtroom are going through. >> your mother was in the car. >> i nearly killed her. i was going to lose everything that i had. >> when "dateline" continues.

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i feel like drug court expects you to be this perfect little person and no one is like that at all. >> it's december 2012. although danielle's drug tests are clean, she's failing in school and that has her still stuck in the beginning phase of the program. >> math is like building the house. you need the basement and the upper level and then the roof. and i think i'm still stuck at the basement and they want me to be on the roof. >> i'm looking at danielle's attendance and grades. f in her biology class. english a "d."

and algebra an "f." >> another drug court judge puts danielle on house restriction for her failing grades. >> life on house restriction sucks. they make it so strict. you can't have your phone. you can't have internet and you can't go anywhere. >> one of the people danielle can't have over is her new boyfriend jake who she met in drug court. judge mary is back and getting news about danielle from her probation officer. >> we have a network of drinkers and partiers. danielle's boyfriend is one of them. >> by questioning the drinkers, the judge had uncovered he's partying less with his pals now, but it's only because he's hanging out at danielle's house now. it gets worse for danielle and

her mom. >> he says he's over there with her knowledge and permission. she's even picked him up and driven them. >> danielle, shall we start with the litany of things you have done that you shouldn't be doing? this includes you mom. let me take my robe off here a second. roll up your sleeve. i spent three weeks in hawaii. where did you get your tan from? >> i got a tanning package for christmas. >> you got a tanning package for christmas. where does it say you can go tanning as part of your house restriction? >> can't i go places with my mom? >> not tanning, mom.

home, to any kind of therapeutic program. not tanning to have fun. this is not about being her best friend. this is about being her mother. letting her have a boyfriend come over while her grades have gone down the tube. >> i got my grades up to passing. >> you got your grades up to passing? >> i got ds in four of my classes. >> oh, my goodness. if you spent less time with jake, you might be able to get cs. if you spent less time going tanning, you might be able to get bs. in the meantime, you're being detained in the jjc. >> that's the juvenile justice center. mary has thrown danielle in jail again. >> i was hurt and i was upset and i was confused. and i didn't want to go there at

all. >> in danielle's case you took a bit of a calculated risk coming down on her hard. >> right. we're not fooling around. you either get with our program or you're going to end up out of the program. >> an ultimatum, a last chance from scary mary. danielle will get to think it over in jail. it just blew me away that i got terminated out of nowhere. >> cory who lost his girlfriend has now last yet another job. he's reeling. he's fighting the urge to get a fix even when he's desperately calling around for work. it's hard to move forward when others keep looking back. >> that plant, they don't hire anybody with -- doesn't matter what kind of felony, which is a bummer. >> cory's mother is terrified

he'll do what he's always done when he's upset, use drugs. so she doesn't leave him alone. she drives him everywhere and she tries to protect him from himself by closing off her medicine cabinet. >> will i leave my door unlocked and chance that someday he's having a bad day and might do my things? i don't give him that opportunity. >> judge mary also don't trust cory. >> shall we talk a manipulator? cory knows how to fool people. >> did he try to fool you? >> yes. >> even though he's successful in his search for work and lands another cooking job, he's soon in serious trouble again. super bowl sunday 2013, cory doesn't call his drug testing lab to find out if he has to drop. >> i dropped twice that week. i thought my week was over. i didn't call on sunday.

>> turns out he misses a mandatory drug test. judge mary thinks he's using again and is determined to find out. >> it takes one to know one. >> my name is mary chrzanowski, i'm an alcoholic. >> you are an addict? >> yes. alcohol was my best friend. i genuinely tried to stop and i couldn't. >> you were functional. >> i knew i had to stop drinking when i came to work. >> she started drinking heavy in law school. one binge could have destroyed everything. >> christmas eve it was.

>> you got behind the wheel drunk and your mother was in the car. >> yep. i hit a parked car and she was nearly killed. she forgave me. mom's forgive. >> but mary never forgave herself. even 15 years later in 2002, when her mom passed away. >> i remember going to the funeral and she was in the casket and that car was still there. >> when were you tired of drinking alcohol? >> i couldn't drink anymore or i was going to lose everything i had. >> one day you just didn't drink anymore. >> never again. >> no aa. >> i took up bicycling. that's my outlet. when i think of a drink, i get on that bike and i pedal. i would forget about the alcohol. >> you went out and got high every day because the drugs were

more important to you. >> back then, she had no patience for addicts who kept landing in her criminal court. >> i had a very difficult time understanding why can't everybody just stop like i did. >> she was lock them up mary. >> her friend and fellow judge presided over an adult drug court. mary ridiculed the program. >> she said, why don't you just sing together and hug them. >> i hope i can say to them there is a better life out there. >> you saw you can actually change lives? >> yes. >> not just punish people? >> absolutely. >> i saw somebody that was beginning to change. i thought that she would save the drug court and that the drug court would save her. >> mary now sees her alcoholism as a force for good.

>> i hope you take this as a great experience. >> judge mary chrzanowski is looking to save lives one at a time, but now she's facing some of the biggest challenges of her career. will danielle, bob, and cory listen to scary mary or tune her out? coming up -- >> i'm saying it was a rookie mistake. >> you've been here 276 days. >> cory is in big trouble. and judge mary plans a big night out, but what's she doing in a bar? >> uh-oh. every morning...

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corey has missed a mandatory drug drop and even though he passes a stringent test a few days later, the damage is done. >> what was his explanation for not showing up for the drop? >> he said i didn't call at all because i already tested twice that week. he didn't call. >> everyone is told they should call every day. >> you didn't hear anything i

said about being responsible. you have to make your drops and meetings. you have to do these things. >> i'll explain it like i knew i was going to have to. it was a rookie mistake. >> you've been here 276 days. >> can i explain it? >> sure, i'll be quiet. >> i'm sorry that i did miss it. i haven't missed -- the last time i missed it was a long time. >> corey is livid and here's why. after he started drug court, he was arrested on charges of stealing and fleeing the cops. the judge in that case said corey would be thrown in jail unless he was successful in drug court and graduated on time. >> corey. >> moments later, right in front of the judge, he angrily snatches paperwork from the

program coordinator and storms out of court. tom tries to calm him down. >> that's going to prolong my sentence and i'm not going to graduate on time. that's the thing. i am doing good. i'm just taken aback as far as why does she have to talk to me like that. really? i don't understand. >> later that night, mary instructs tom to tell him she's ordering him back to court in one week. >> the way he left the courtroom, she felt it was basically contempt of court. >> i get tired of you lying to me. i get tired of you not accepting what i have to offer. >> mary takes it hard when addicts like corey and danielle keep slipping up. so tonight to lift her spirits, she decides to cut loose. she and her friend judge head

off to the bar. not no tto drink, but to follow one addict who is doing well, bob wright. >> i have people who don't want me to fall on my face. >> bob had once heard that mary would be every musician's worst nightmare. >> i could see her very angrily sitting in the bar. you think you're something? i'm sorry. i'm glad she's sober. ♪ >> but no heckling here. in fact, the softer side of scary mary is on display. bob dedicated a song to the judge is loaded with irony. cocaine blues by johnny cash. bob, who is now just one month

from graduating, is due in drug court the next day for his monthly check in. true to form, mary drops a warning on the way out. >> see you tomorrow. be on time. >> now i need a shot. i'm joking. >> bob, will you tell everybody in the drug court what happened last night? >> about you guys being groupies, not yet. >> the last time he was this close to graduating, he failed. >> are you afraid this was the case of the guy who was going to fly solo and he self-sabotagies? >> yes. coming up -- >> i'm not your mother.

i'm not your friend. i am your judge. then another reality check for danielle. >> i was so mad. this isn't fair, not treating me fairly. >> when "dateline" continues. [ telephone ringing ] ♪ [ female announcer ] is your morning trying to tell you something? maybe we should have gotten him one? [ female announcer ] sweet, creamy iced coffee from mcdonald's. another reason to love mccafé. that, my friends, is everything. and with the quicksilver card from capital one,

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i don't sense and i don't feel sincerity here, okay? there is no sincerity. none. >> every day, judge mary chrzanowski earns her stripes as "scary mary." >> on behalf of the drug court staff -- >> but there's a gentler way she motivates her addicts to stay clean. she inspires them. >> we want to present you with a special ten-year coin. >> mary celebrate ad a personal milestone. ten years sober.

>> is mary's methods getting threw to our three addicts? >> we're headed to big tops tattoo right now just to go check it out, maybe get something done. i don't know. just trying to enjoy life right now. >> corey thinks he can do whatever he wants. he needs to understand sometimes you have to give in to authority. >> like many addicts, corey didn't think one missed drug test was that big a deal. >> i felt she came down on me too hard. >> when he's ordered back to court, corey thinks he can charm his way out of one more time. >> i do apologize. >> i'm not accepting an apology at this point. the way you snatched that paper, the way you stormed out of this courtroom showed me a lot of immaturi immaturity. a lot of disrespect. then you think that simply saying, oh, i'm sorry is enough.

i'm not your mother. i am not your friend. i am your judge. >> i really am so sorry. you don't want to hear sorry, but i am sorry. >> the drug court is a favor to help you, to teach you humility, to teach you respect. >> corey braces himself for serious punishment, but scary mary surprises him with no jail time. >> i think you're penalty was all of the fear of what was going to happen to you from the day you knew i wanted to see you until this very moment. >> of course, it did. >> that's why they call me scary mary. >> since she began presiding over judge court, judge mary is no longer lock them up mary. >> i started to recognize how important treatment is for some people. i don't want to put people in jail. i want to try to help them through their problems. >> mary will still use jail when necessary to send a message, which is why danielle has been

locked up for a week and has had lots of time to think. >> it sucked. i was so mad because one of the kids got let off and he was drinking and he got to go home. it was going through my mind, this isn't fair. i can't compare myself to other people. >> she is led to a counseling session with her mom. mary hopes that tongue lashing she gave danielle's mom will also make her more accountable. >> i was still mad from getting my butt chewed out from judge chrzanowski. she says mom, don't worry about that. it's me. i manipulated you. i still have to take responsibility because i allowed her to do that. >> she realized in jail how easily she distracts herself from schoolwork. >> what's wrong with that?

>> that's not helping me. >> danielle is saying the right things and trying to be accountable, but old patterns resurface when she and her mother start arguing over her boyfriend jake. >> so you don't like him now? >> i didn't say i didn't like him, danielle. i mentioned to you about the whole emotional issues and everything else. >> because really? i thought you were like i'm so happy because jake is not like that. >> your mom didn't say, so you don't like jake. she said, you can do better. >> i love him, but i'm not in love with him. i have love for him. >> danielle is about to get out of jail, but she knows this is it. she's out of chances with judge mary with school and maybe her mom. >> nothing this hard is going to come easy.

i'm going to [ bleep ] it up and do what i have to. >> will the three addicts in scary mary's drug court do what they must do to get clean? >> i've had a thousand chances. i'm so upset with myself. >> and the real scary mary revealed. >> they don't need to know your a marshmallow inside. >> you're a marshmallow inside? ♪ i got my paws in the air and i don't care! ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing the htc harmon kardon edition with revolutionary clari-fi sound. now with 6 months free spotify premium streaming music when you sign up for a sprint framily plan. happy connecting from sprint. choose for their employees' dental insurance? peppermint patty oc: mmmm... peppermint.

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♪ more than six months after we met them, our three addicts from scary mary's drug court have reached a crossroads. bob white is nearing graduation again. danielle is getting out of jail. and corey dodged a bullet after mary decided not to send him to jail. are they finally on the verge of success? for corey, the answer is no. three months after he sounded so contrite for his missed drug test and courtroom meltdown, corey's addiction whips him again. he boozes it up with some old friends and flunks a test. judge mary knows he needs to be scared straight, so this time she throws him in jail.

>> that's what this jail time is about. do i want to be clean and sober, or am i going to continue messing up? do you want to be part of the drug court? do you want to stay? >> i want to stay. i really want to stay. >> we're not ready to give up on you yet. >> after a week in jail, mary lets him out. corey's fate is no longer solely in mary's hands. the very next day he's in criminal court for sentencing on his old stealing and fleeing the cops case. it's before this judge, the one who linked jail time or freedom to corey's success in drug court. >> is there anything you'd like to say? >> i've had a thousand chances from numerous cases. i came so far in the drug court program. it's changed my life. i beg to complete this drug

court program. i was a month away from completing it. i'm so upset with myself. >> but the judge isn't buying it. corey's drinking, probation violation, has changed everything. >> frankly, i think he needs something else. certainly leniency doesn't work. with that, the court sees no reason why you should not begin your jail sentences today. deputy right, take him into custody. >> hands out. >> corey gets six months in jail. which if served, would force him out of the drug court program. but mary is still fighting for him. >> we want him to pick up the pieces and move forward again. >> and mary's efforts pay off when corey is shocked to find himself in the courtroom only two weeks later. >> for reasons unknown to the court, the drug court does want

you back. they apparently see something in you that frankly i do not. so against my better judgment, i am going to return you to the drug court. i can assure you you have used up all your strikes. >> i haven't stopped smiling since i walked out of the courtroom. i try to hold my composure as best i could. i shouldn't be sitting here right now. i can't believe this, but i'm here and i'm going to take 100% -- 110% advantage of this. >> despite mary's tireless efforts she couldn't save corey from himself. last summer and again in the fall, he tested positive for opiates. deeply disappointed, mary threw him in state prison for a minimum of 16 months.

he has blown his drug court chance forever. >> i hope he doesn't want until my age that realize he wants to live a good life. >> he was tired. he's tired of trying to figure out where the next fix is going to come from. >> it took two long years for him to complete drug court, but bob wright is finally clean. today is his graduation. >> so robert, what did you acquire from us? >> you saved my life, the program, the whole drug court program. >> congratulations. you've done it. good job. >> bob dropped out of high school, which means this is his first graduation, but maybe not his last. he plans to go back to school. >> i hope to help other idiots like me.

>> a drug therapist? >> absolutely. >> it takes one to know one. >> absolutely. >> they have a 40% better chance than addicts that go the traditional probation route and it's cheaper for the state in the long run too. >> they're invested in you guys. >> exactly. they want us to succeed. i thought mary was going to choke up a little. she's going to miss me. >> my grades are actually like the best that they've ever been. it feels good. >> what's going on with danielle? >> the review period from the last time danielle was here has been phenomenal. very proud of her. >> danielle finally seems to be on the right track. >> i don't ever apologize when i yell and scream because my yelling and screaming has some kind of point i want to get across.

i took a long time to get there and i'm more than happy to promote you so congratulations. >> promotion to the next phase of the program is one sign of progress. so is a new and improved relationship at home. >> we're back to mom and daughter again. >> you're in charge? >> i'm the boss, yes. i'm running the house now. >> do you feel like you know where you're going now? >> the reality is that this isn't a game. this is about do what we ask you to do. i think mom woke up too. >> mary goes even further for danielle, an animal-lover, but helping her get an internship at the dog grooming salon where she takes her dogs. >> there's life after drugs. >> unfortunately, it wasn't enough to beat her addiction.

danielle started drinking again. her grades tanked and she was rebelling at home. in march, drug court decided danielle needed a fresh start. she was placed in an arizona rehab facility for three months. mary hopes this will be the wakeup call she needs. >> did you ever fear this is spitting in the wind? maybe you're changing a few lives here, but the totality here is this is almost meaningless. >> his buddy says to him, you can't save all these star fish. what does it matter? he threw one back in and said, it mattered to that one. >> do they sing a different tune about you? >> i don't want to give up on national television that i'm not. they don't need to know your a marshmallow inside.

>> you're a marshmallow inside? >> i won't comment. >> that's all for now. i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. u.s.a.: diverse, grand, competitive, confident, and beautiful. 50 united states and 1 proud district. each with its own personality and style. tonight, each one is represented by just one talented, beautiful woman in a winner-take all competition. they have come from the cities, from the heartland, from the coasts. they've spent a lifetime pushing the envelope to make themselves the best they can be. they have overcome personal hardships and tested their