Hans-Joachim Jentsch was born on September 20, 1937 in Fürstenwalde an der Spree.

After passing his second state examination in law, he set up as a lawyer in Wiesbaden in 1966. Between 1976 and 1982, Jentsch sat for the CDU in the German Bundestag and from 1987 to 1990 in the Hessian state parliament.

He succeeded Georg-Berndt Oschatz as Lord Mayor of Wiesbaden between 1982 and 1985. After reunification, he went to Erfurt as Minister of Justice until 1994 and later as a part-time member of the Thuringian Constitutional Court.

In 1996, he moved to Karlsruhe as a constitutional judge. He was a member of the Second Senate until his retirement on September 30, 2005.

The city of Wiesbaden honored him on 3 October 1985 for his services as Lord Mayor with an entry in the Golden Book.

In November 2006, he was also awarded honorary citizenship.