We introduce the concept of community mediation centers as alternatives to the traditional, adversarial, and less humanistic court system. We make the case that mediation is indeed a humanistic dispute resolution process by first describing the benefits of the process and then by sharing results of a study we conducted using archival cases from an actual mediation center. The study examines the disputing person's Maslowian levels both before and after the mediation hearing. We found that need levels are higher in the Maslowian hierarchy after the hearing than before the hearing. We also address limitations of our study as well as suggest future directions for more research.
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