Karen Kristopher of Centers for Decency

[0:00]: MB: Okay, Karen Kristopher?

KK: [Nods.]

MB: So, interesting situation. You know that I’m conducting interviews on this trip with people who are on the sex offender registry and their families, as well as people who are identified as victims of people on the registry. Now, I happened to have a serendipitous encounter with you in the hotel lobby, and I have been interviewing some people who are not on the registry or related to the registry in the way I described. I interviewed a lawyer who’s on a sex offender management board and I interviewed a gentleman who does sex offender treatment. You would be in that sort of additional category of a person who has expertise related to the sex offender laws and as far as I understand is not directly affected. But I should start by asking you, are you directly affected in any way by the sex offender registry? You’re not on the registry yourself?

KK: No.

MB: And you have no family member or close friend who is on the registry.

KK: No, no.

MB: Well let me ask you, do you consider yourself a person with direct experience related to the registry or would you consider yourself more a member of the general public with respect to that?

[1:45]: KK: Probably, I’m more related with the general public with the sex offenders list. I don’t feel like I have an expertise with that particularly. And, I do deal with sex predators. We chase them down. I’ve got Gary Michael Block¹ thrown off as a judge here in Houston [for] sexual activity with about eight ladies … one of them in particular … was ejaculated on in his chambers.

…

     [2:44]: I’m with Centers for Decency and I’m also the founder of the Houston-Area Association for Decency.

[2:57]: MB: Okay, so, what do you think about the sex offender registry?

KK: I think that it’s a valuable tool. I’ve been dealing with the real estate brokers in Houston about when they sell a piece of property and the disclosure rate of a sex offender near the home, when there’s little girls in the family, little children, and I’ve written several stories on that. … It has its place, certainly. I think it’s an indicator of what’s happening in that neighborhood. But there is no neighborhood, no zip code, in Houston, that is without a sex offender, a convicted sex offender. The biggest problem is that sex predators have not been caught, and they’re everywhere. That’s the bigger problem of the two.

…

[3:35]: MB: [Since] there is no place in Houston where there are not people on the registry, where is a family with young children supposed to live?

KK: Well, that’s interesting. No one has posed that question. … I’m not really sure how to answer that question. … It’s a hard place for a family with children. …

     [5:04]: The sex predators are just out there. They have not been arrested yet. They attack their victims 113 times before they’re arrested the first time. This is the sex predator.

…

[6:09]: MB: Are you distinguishing between what you call a sex offender and a sexual predator?

KK: Yes, … a sex offender has been convicted … and they’re listed on the registers. …

Karen Kristopher

     [7:31]: A sex predator usually attacks their victim 113 times - some people will say 117 times - before they’re arrested the first time, but I use the lower number, 113.

…

[9:47]: MB: So once they’re arrested, they become a sex offender.

KK: If they’re convicted, yes. …

MB: So before they’re arrested, they’re a sex predator. Do you have an idea of how many such people there are?

KK: No. It’s just countless. …

…

     [11:50]: What they usually do, they start with women their own age, and they get younger and younger. This is what’s happening.

…

     [13:23]: The subject we’re talking on are the sex predators.

MB: Right. That’s what I’m trying to get an idea of what it is you mean by a ‘sex predator.’

KK: Those who are not convicted of a sex crime yet.

…

     [17:14]: Those with the addiction for pornography hide out. They hide their tracks.

…

     [17:42]: The registers that we’re talking, the 700,000, that’s just a tiny part of the number of sex predators that are roaming across this country.

MB: So if 700,000 is a tiny part, then we’re talking about many millions of men, yes?

KK: Yes. …

MB: Many millions of men, roaming around the country, looking for victims.

KK: They have an addiction for pornography, yes.

… [More about pornography, promiscuity, and rape on college campuses.]

[23:54]: MB: What is a sex predator? Let me ask you this. Is a sex predator any man who ever has sex, except with his wife?

KK: [Laughs.] Well, … I don’t know how to answer that question.

…

     [35:19]: We’re just trying to promote morality and decency … We’re hoping to have stronger family values because it’s strong family values that’s keeping this country together, and if that unravels, then the United States of America will have more cultural decline, and cultural decline is not good for the fellas or the girls, or anyone. We all have a lot to address.

…  

Footnotes