About the Judge
 

The Hon. Jan Krocker graduated from The University of Texas Law School in 1980 and is board certified in criminal law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.  She has been both a prosecutor (1981-90) and criminal defense lawyer (1990-94).  She became Judge of the 184th District Court on January 1, 1995.  She was first elected to that position in 1994 and reelected in 1998, 2002 and 2006.  In January, 2009, Judge Krocker was named by the Harris County Board of Criminal District Judges as the judge of a new full-time mental health court, which is currently in the planning and implementation stage.  Judge Krocker advocated for the court for a number of years.

Justice for Children, a national child advocacy organization, named Judge Krocker as recipient of the Judicial Recognition Award in 2004.  She also was appointed that year by Texas Gov. Rick Perry to a  4-year term on the Advisory Committee to the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments.  She recently was appointed to a second term, ending in 2013.

Judge Krocker has been a member of the Garland Walker Inns of Court, which promotes continuing legal education. She has served on Houston Bar Association committees and on the judges’ legislative committee.  She was elected as chairman for Grievance Committee panels for the State Bar of Texas for the 2005-06 term.  She currently is the president of a local women's breakfast club and has served as scholarship chair for that organization.

Judge Krocker has been active in the community for many years and is a frequent speaker. Her volunteer activities have ranged from little league to a ministry program.  She has been willing to donate her time to a number of organizations—from judging a women’s business award to deciding the winner of a charity duck race.

High school and middle school students frequently visit the courtroom.  Both undergraduate and law students have been assigned to the judge as interns for academic credit.  Judge Krocker has worked with psychiatric residents and served on the advisory committee for a new joint law and medical degree program.

Judge Krocker became interested in mental health issues after experiencing great success in the 1990’s with mentally ill probationers and those acquitted due to insanity.  She has visited the country’s first mental health court in Ft. Lauderdale and was very active in the grant-funded Judicial Task Force on Mental Illness, which was created in 1999.  Judge Krocker has given presentations on how the criminal justice system can more effectively work with the mentally ill at a national mental health conference in Chicago and at the national probation and parole conference in Denver.  Judge Krocker was instrumental in implementing a pilot project which placed mental health professionals in the courtroom to make recommendations for treatment.  The project was so successful that it was expanded to include all 22 Harris County felony courts.