Denise Oncken, Houston

Denise Oncken, JD, MBA has been an Assistant District Attorney with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office (HCDAO) for 34 years. She is a Bureau Chief over the Special Victims and Mental Health Bureau with a staff of several hundred.

Before becoming Bureau Chief, Oncken was a founding partner in the creation of the Harris County Children’s Assessment Center, as well as, working to create a local Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Additionally, Oncken worked with local leaders in the creation of the Judge Ed Emmett Mental Health Diversion Center which opened in 2018. 

In 2018, she was appointed to the Judicial Commission on Mental Health by the Supreme Court of Texas and the Court of Criminal Appeals.  She was appointed by the Governor in 2014 to the Advisory Committee to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice on Offenders with Medical and Mental Impairments and reappointed to the Advisory Committee by the Governor in May 2019. Denise is also a member of the Harris County Mental Health Standing Committee.

She is an honor graduate of the University of Houston with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Business. She is also a South Texas College of Law Alumna. Oncken is a member of the highly acclaimed Texas Prosecutor Society inducted in 2016; member of the Houston Bar Association, Fellow of the Houston Bar Foundation, co-chair 2017-19 of the Houston Bar Association Senior Lawyers Committee; member of the Houston Bar Association Judicial Polls Committee; and member of the Texas State Bar College.