Resolving Community Conflict: The Dispute Settlement Center of Durham, North Carolina

• NCJ Number: 172203
• Author(s): D McGillis
• Date Published: September 1998
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Series: NIJ Program Focus
• Agencies: NIJ

Annotation

Established in 1983, the Dispute Settlement Center of Durham, N.C., has become a prominent, well-established community mediation program.

Abstract

The Center's experience reflects the broad range of issues that many mediation programs confront. Opened with private grant funding, the Center now obtains more than 65 percent of its funding through income from contracts and service fees. The Center handles an increasingly diverse number of conflicts and offers an array of services to the community. The major types of cases mediated and facilitated by the program include minor criminal case mediation, minor civil mediation, divorce and family mediation, public policy problem solving, workplace dispute resolution, and school mediation. A 1992 independent evaluation found that 88 percent of interpersonal misdemeanor cases referred to the Center by the courts resulted in agreements between disputants. Additionally, the evaluation showed that between 85 percent and 95 percent of complainants and respondents were satisfied with both the procedures and outcomes of their mediation hearings, with the percentage depending on the questions asked. 6 notes