Denise Boots

Denise Boots


Research Fellow and Associate Professor of Criminology

Dr. Denise Paquette Boots is an Associate Professor of Criminology and Senior Research Fellow in the Institute for Urban Policy Research at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is a former U.S. Border Patrol Agent trainee and Level 4 juvenile counselor for adjudicated youth. Her research agenda focuses on issues related to interpersonal violence, with a specific emphasis on domestic violence and homicide, child abuse and neglect, mental health, life-course criminology, neuropsychological vulnerabilities, capital punishment, gendered pathways to crime and victimization, parricide, and outcome and process evaluations of problem-solving courts and criminal justice programs.

Her professional community service activities include serving as the Campus Facilities Chair at UT Dallas, as an executive committee member of the City of Dallas Domestic Violence Task Force, as an editorial board member for the respected journal Violence Against Women, and as the Senior Executive Counselor for the Division of Women and Crime of the American Society of Criminology. In 2010, she was awarded the University of Texas Board of Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, one of the most selective and prestigious teaching awards in the country. She is frequently called upon as a consultant to various non-profit organizations and has been featured on the Dr. Phil Show and other national and local media outlets regarding topics related to interpersonal and family violence.