‘Violent Minds: Killers on Tape’: Who Was Dr. Al Carlisle? The Mormon Who Faced Evil for The Greater Good
Before the Behavioral Science Unit and the Mindhunter program, Dr. Al Carlisle was behind some of America’s worst serial killers. Oxygen’s true crime series, Violent Minds: Killers on Tape, dives into Dr. Carlisle’s records, documents, and conversations with notorious killers, especially Ted Bundy. But who was the clinical psychologist and Mormon who became fascinated with the violence in a killer’s mind?
Dr. Carlisle was a devout Mormon who helped the justice system with violent offenders
According to Violent Minds: Killers on Tape Episode 1, Dr. Carlisle initially did not go to college with the thought of pursuing criminal psychology. He attended Utah State University in 1937 and became fascinated by Charles Manson. It sparked his desire to understand a violent mind and what would lead them to commit killer acts.
Dr. Carlisle graduated with a BS and MS from Utah State University before earning a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Brigham Young University. Charlene Harmon, Dr. Carlisle’s daughter, explained that the term “serial killer” had not been invented while her father was in school. He was a clinical psychologist who got a job at the Utah State Prison.
What some viewers may find surprising about him were his beliefs. So invested in uncovering what makes serial killers tick, Dr. Carlisle was a devout Mormon. According to TV Insider, creative consultant for Dr. Carlisle, Carrie Anne Drazewski-Keller explained, “His belief system is that everyone is born good and is always good people, but that good people do bad things. That’s what he told me. He needed to understand why.”
His beliefs and inquisitive mind led his work at the Utah State Prison to come face to face with what would be some of America’s worst killers in history. Violent Minds: Killers on Tape helps explore how Dr. Carlisle became integral to the justice system and future study of these offenders.
‘Violent Minds: Killers on Tape’ explores Dr. Carlisle’s 90-Day evaluation work at the prison
Everything fans see in Netflix’s Mindhunter is only part of the story of the state’s attempts to understand serial killers. Before the BSU, Dr. Carlisle became integral to helping the justice system. He helped determine whether an offender deserved a lengthy prison sentence.
Violent Minds: Killers on Tape uses a 2017 interview with Dr. Carlisle, where he explains how his path got started. In 1967, after graduation, he began working at the prison. He and Dr. Allan Roe were the only two psychologists at the facility. But Roe explained they had to start the department from scratch because “no one knew what we were supposed to do or what psychologists did.”
Dr. Carlisle’s granddaughter reads some of his notes in Violent Minds: Killers on Tape. He explained he was a part of the state’s “90-Day Evaluation Program.” His task was to evaluate inmates sent to the program by the state. Why? To conclude whether or not an inmate is prone to violent offenses or future crimes. Inmates were often sent to Dr. Carlisle if a judge was uncertain how to sentence an offender, either send them to jail or probation.
In March 1976, Violent Minds: Killers on Tape details Dr. Carlisle’s first meeting with none other than Ted Bundy. His time with Bundy was before Utah knew of his crimes and his infamy as a serial killer. Bundy would be Dr. Carlisle’s most prolific study but not his last.
Where is Dr. Carlisle now?
Ted Bundy is inarguably part of America’s horrid history with serial killers. Violent Minds: Killers on Tape explored how Dr. Carlisle got into his mind to understand if Bundy indeed was evil or where his murderous tendencies stemmed from. But Dr. Carlisle was only at the start of Bundy’s story.
His evaluation of Bundy allowed Americans to be free of his murderous ways for over 10 years, as he was sentenced to prison based on Dr. Carlisle’s report. After Bundy, Dr. Carlisle also studied Arthur Gary Bishop, who killed five young boys and more. Through his work, one of his areas of expertise, according to Oxygen, was dissociative identity disorder.
In 1989, he retired from the prison but continued to share his insights, having published several renowned books like “The 1976 Psychological Assessment of Ted Bundy.” He also gave seminars about serial homicide and “was a Salt Lake City rape crisis consultant.”
Dr. Carlisles died at the age of 81 in 2018. Violent Minds: Killers on Tape was created after his family discovered his notes, tapes, and documents of his case studies. Many of his colleagues thought they were lost. What they found on Bundy and Bishop had never been seen or heard before.
