Erin Sweeny

Last updated

Erin Sweeny
Born1966/1967(age 55–56)
NationalityAustralian
Occupationpsychologist
Known forSex offender treatment

Erin Sweeny is an Australian psychologist, recognized with a 100 Women award by the BBC in 2016 for her work in treating sex offenders. [1]

Career

Sweeny is the president of the Western Australia committee of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law (ANZAPPL) [2] and is a member of the Western Australia subcommittee of the national committee of the College of Forensic Psychologists of the Australian Psychological Society. [3]

According to her ANZAPPL profile, she joined the Department of Corrective Services in Western Australia in 1989. At the Department, she worked as a community corrections officer and in the Sex Offender Treatment Unit. She worked in the United Kingdom for three years until returning to Western Australia in 2003. She currently works in private practice. [2]

In 2016, she was chosen as one of BBC's 100 Women. [4]

She believes that sex offenders are redeemable. She says that these offenders "always an unhappy childhood - usually due to abusive, neglectful, absent or simply unengaged parenting." [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychologist</span> Professional who evaluates, diagnoses, treats and studies behavior and mental processes

A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how individuals relate to each other and to their environments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamela Stephenson</span> New Zealand clinical psychologist, writer, and actress (born 1949)

Pamela Stephenson, Lady Connolly is a New Zealand–born psychologist, writer, actress and comedian. She moved with her family to Australia in 1953 and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). After playing several stage and television roles, she emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1976.

Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is held entirely or partially at fault for the harm that befell them. There is historical and current prejudice against the victims of domestic violence and sex crimes, such as the greater tendency to blame victims of rape than victims of robbery if victims and perpetrators knew each other prior to the commission of the crime.

Diane F. Halpern is an American psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association (APA). She is Dean of Social Science at the Minerva Schools at KGI and also the McElwee Family Professor of Psychology at Claremont McKenna College. She is also past-president of the Western Psychological Association, The Society for the Teaching of Psychology, and the Division of General Psychology.

Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson are a British lesbian couple who lobbied to have their relationship recognised as a marriage in England.

A sex offender is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crimes of a sexual nature; however, some sex offenders have simply violated a law contained in a sexual category. Some of the serious crimes which usually result in a mandatory sex-offender classification are sexual assault, statutory rape, bestiality, child sexual abuse, incest, rape, and sexual imposition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uta Frith</span> German developmental psychologist, born 1941

Dame Uta Frith is a German-British developmental psychologist at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. She has pioneered much of the current research into autism and dyslexia. She has written several books on these subjects, arguing for autism to be seen as a mental condition rather than as one caused by parenting. Her Autism: Explaining the Enigma introduces the cognitive neuroscience of autism. She is credited with creating the Sally–Anne test along with fellow scientists Alan Leslie and Simon Baron-Cohen. She also pioneered the work on child dyslexia. Among students she has mentored are Tony Attwood, Maggie Snowling, Simon Baron-Cohen and Francesca Happé.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Incarceration of women</span> Imprisonment of women

As of 2013, across the world, 625,000 women and children were being incarcerated in correctional facilities, and the female prison population was increasing in all continents. The list of countries by incarceration rate includes a main table with a column for the historical and current percentage of prisoners who are female.

Eleanor Emmons Maccoby was an American psychologist who was most recognized for her research and scholarly contributions to the fields of gender studies and developmental psychology. Throughout her career she studied sex differences, gender development, gender differentiation, parent-child relations, child development, and social development from the child perspective.

Anna Salter is an American psychologist, an internationally recognized expert on sexual predators, and a mystery novelist. Dr. Salter earned her MA from Tufts University and PhD from Harvard University. She has been a teaching fellow at both Tufts University and Harvard University. She is the author of several non-fiction books including Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders: Who They Are, How They Operate, and How We Can Protect Our Children (2003), and Treating Child Sex Offenders and Victims (1988)

Janet Allison Taylor Spence was an American psychologist who worked in the field of the psychology of anxiety and in gender studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Denmark</span> American psychologist

Florence Harriet Levin Denmark is an American psychologist and a past president of the American Psychological Association (APA) (1980-1981). She is a pioneering female psychologist who has influenced the psychological sciences through her scholarly and academic accomplishments in both psychology and feminist movements. She has contributed to psychology in several ways, specifically in the field of psychology of women and human rights, both nationally and internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Franklin</span> American forensic psychologist

Karen Franklin is an American forensic psychologist. For her doctoral dissertation, she conducted research on anti-gay violence. She has also published commentaries about sex crimes, primarily expressing her opposition to the use of the hebephilia and other diagnoses in sexually violent predator regulations. She received the 2012 Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award in Psychology and the Monette-Horwitz Trust Award in 2001.

Reiko Homma True is an internationally known Japanese American psychologist. True is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Alliant International University in San Francisco, CA. She is recognized for her efforts to advance mental health services for Asian Americans and other minorities. She conducts research studies examining mental attitudes and status among minorities in the community, and publishes her research in reputable psychological journals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lise Østergaard</span> Danish government minister

Anna Elisabeth "Lise" Østergaard was a Danish psychologist and a politician in the social-democratic party. Under Anker Jørgensen's leadership, she was Minister without Portfolio (1977–80) and Minister of Culture. As a psychologist, she was head of psychology in Copenhagen's Rigshospitalet (1958) as well as the first woman to become professor of clinical psychology at Copenhagen University (1963), a position she resumed after her political career ended in the mid-1980s.

Jeanne Lavonne Humphrey Block was an American psychologist and expert on child development. She conducted research into sex-role socialization and, with her husband Jack Block, created a person-centered personality framework. Block was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and conducted her research with the National Institute of Mental Health and the University of California, Berkeley. She was an active researcher when she was diagnosed with cancer in 1981.

Elizabeth M. Celi is an Australian psychologist and author in men's health, with expertise in men's mental health and domestic abuse. While continuing private practice as a trauma focused therapist, Elizabeth also works as a leadership coach and consultant to the film industry. She is the sole author of two published books and co-author of six scientific peer reviewed papers. Two more research papers are currently in review.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beate Walter-Rosenheimer</span> German politician

Beate Walter-Rosenheimer is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Bavaria since 2012. Prior to her political career, she worked as a freelance psychologist. In parliament, she has served on various committees and was her parliamentary group's spokesperson for youth policy, education, and training.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apryl A. Alexander</span> American clinical and forensic psychologist (born 1983)

Apryl A. Alexander is an American clinical and forensic psychologist who is an associate professor at the University of Denver. Alexander directs students at the Denver Forensic Institute for Research, Service and Training, and engages in clinical psychology practice. She is co-founder of the University of Denver's Prison Arts Initiative where incarcerated individuals engage in a therapeutic, educational arts curricula.

Ellen Kitch Childs was an American clinical psychologist and a lesbian activist known for her participation in the women's liberation movement in North America and for advocating for minority women, prostitutes, gays and lesbians. She was a founding member of the University of Chicago's Gay Liberation and the first African American woman to earn her doctorate degree in Human Development at the University of Chicago.

References

  1. 1 2 "100 Women 2016: 'Every person is redeemable' - my job treating rapists". BBC News. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Committee - Western Australia". Western Australia. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  3. "APS Member Groups : Western Australian Committee Information". groups.psychology.org.au. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  4. "BBC 100 Women 2016: Who is on the list?". BBC. 21 November 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016.