The Global Initiative Network

Expert

Vanessa Bouché

Associate Professor, Texas Christian University

Dr. Vanessa Bouché is an Associate Professor of Political Science at TCU. She has been a principal investigator on several federally-funded human trafficking projects from the Department of Justice and USAID totaling over $800,000. She is the principle investigator of HumanTraffickingData.org, a searchable database of federally-prosecuted human trafficking cases in the U.S.

Dr. Bouché has also conducted public opinion research on human trafficking in the U.S., Moldova, and Albania, and designed and deployed trauma informed surveys with survivors of human trafficking in the U.S. and Honduras. She consults with a variety of organizations, and has been an invited speaker by dozens of agencies, including the United States Consulates in Mumbai and Kolkata, the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica, and the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime.

She serves on the board of directors for Traffick911 and is the co-founder of Savhera, an essential oil company that provides dignified employment to sex trafficking survivors. She was the 2018 recipient of the Young Leader Award (Texas Women’s Foundation), and the 2019 recipient of the Hero Award (Unlikely Heroes) and the Great Woman of Texas (Fort Worth Business Press).

Publications
  • De Vries, Ieke, Amy Farrell, Vanessa Bouché, and Dana Wittmer-Wolfe. 2019. “Crime Frames and Gender Differences in the Activation of Crime Concern and Crime Responses.” Journal of Criminal Justice. Available online December 11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2019.101651
  • De Vries, Ieke, Connor Nickerson, Amy Farrell, Dana Wittmer-Wolfe, and Vanessa Bouché. 2019. “Anti-immigration sentiment and public opinion on human trafficking.” Crime, Law & Social Change 72(1): 125-143.
  • Farrell, Amy, Vanessa Bouché, and Dana Wolfe. 2019. “Assessing the Effectiveness of State Human Trafficking Legislation.” Law & Policy 41(2): 174-197.
  • Bouché, Vanessa and Sean Crotty. 2018. “The Red-Light Network: Exploring the Locational Strategies of Illicit Massage Businesses in Houston, Texas.” Papers in Applied Geography 4(2): 205-227.
  • Bouché, Vanessa, Amy Farrell, and Dana Wittmer-Wolfe. 2018. “Challenging the Dominant Frame: The Moderating Impact of Exposure and Knowledge on Perceptions of Sex Trafficking Victimization.” Social Science Quarterly 99(4): 1283-1302.
  • Bouché, Vanessa. 2018. “From Categories to Context: The Identity Meaning Theory and Political Engagement.” Social Science Quarterly 99(2): 711-727.
  • Bouché, Vanessa and Sean Crotty. 2017. “Estimating Demand for Illicit Massage Businesses in Houston, TX.” Journal of Human Trafficking 4(4): 279-297.
  • Bouché, Vanessa and Stephanie Shady. 2017. “A Pimp’s Game: A rational choice approach to understanding the decisions of sex traffickers.” Women & Criminal Justice 27(2): 91-108.
  • Bouché, Vanessa and Dana Wittmer. 2015. “Gendered Diffusion on Gendered Issues: The Case of Human Trafficking.” Journal of Public Policy 35(1): 1-33.
  • Wittmer, Dana and Vanessa Bouché. 2013. “The Limits of Gendered Leadership: The Public Policy Implications of Female Leadership on Women’s Issues.” Politics & Gender 9: 245-275.

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