Judge Denise Collins is one of Harris County’s most senior judges. She presided in the 208th Criminal District Court for 26 years, and since then and until the present been sitting as a Visiting Judge in the criminal courts.
Judge Collins was born and raised in North Carolina, but moved to Texas in the early 1970’s. She received her Batchelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and her Masters in Education and Law Degree from the University of Houston. She worked on her masters and law degree in part while she worked as a receptionist and secretary at the law school.
Upon moving to Texas, she was a counselor for several years for troubled girls in a state licensed home, but wanted to teach and pursued the Masters previously referenced to become certified to teach. She got a job teaching inner city junior high students and subsequently decided to attend Bates College of Law at night while teaching. With six years of teaching accomplished, she received her law license in May, 1983 and entered private practice.
In 1992, she ran for Judge of the 208th, and was elected and kept that office after multiple elections until 2018. She has been and was an active speaker on local criminal justice issues, spoke often at schools, and a leader in forming probation policy and advocating for an existing adult boot camp program for young offenders.