Conflict resolution matters more than you may realize.  

When you are stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and someone decides to start honking, your blood pressure rises. When you are struggling with a neighbor in a dispute where they seem to not care about your feelings, you lose a sense of community. When you feel you’re a victim of discrimination in the workplace, you don’t always know who you can trust. When you can’t pay your friends back when they really need the money, animosity builds up. 

When all those pressures add up, you and those around you might reach a tipping point where you do something that can alter your life and your community forever.  

How we interact with others when we disagree can set the stage for a healthy conversation or a potentially dangerous interaction. It is imperative to learn effective, evidence-based conflict resolution strategies to deescalate and resolve conflicts that promote peace.  

What is Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution is a process that two or more parties use to find a peaceful solution to their dispute. It might be a formalized process, or it might be informal. We use conflict resolution strategies in our daily lives, whether we realize it or not. From the smallest or disagreements to potentially life-threatening conflicts, it is important to impart conflict resolution skillsets. 

Key components of effective conflict resolution

• Individual Communication and Interpersonal Skill Preparedness: Conflicts happen at any time, not just when we are paying attention. Conflict resolution skills can be learned and honed over time. Working on an individual’s unique communication and interpersonal skills can prepare them to effectively resolve conflicts. 

• Active Listening: This communication technique gives both parties a framework to clearly hear the other’s perspectives and emotions. Active listening includes attentively listening to what the speaker is saying, internally understanding and retaining their message and thoughtfully responding. It requires both parties to be fully engaged both verbally and nonverbally. 

• Empathy: To fully understand another side of a disagreement, both parties need to put themselves in the other side’s shoes. By learning background information, extenuating circumstances and emotional and material stressors, both parties can feel how a disagreement is impacted by outside factors. Practicing empathy can help deescalate conflicts and promote understanding and community building. 
• Transformative Mediation: This process uses a third-party mediator and a structured process to facilitate conflict resolution. Mediation often happens at a neutral community resources location like a church, community center or organization. It involves direct discussion between parties and gives an opportunity for the parties to address the root causes of their disagreement. 

How Does it Affect Crime Rates? 

When left unchecked, unresolved conflicts have the potential to spiral into violence or criminal behavior. A simple misunderstanding or disagreement—between neighbors, classmates, or family members—can escalate when individuals feel unheard, disrespected, or trapped without constructive outlets to resolve their grievances. Over time, frustration and anger can manifest in destructive ways, potentially leading to acts of aggression and violence. 

Numerous studies, including those from the Council on Criminal Justice and the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, highlight how many violent incidents originate from personal disputes.  Additionally, the Bureau of Justice Statistics has reported that nearly half of all nonfatal violent crimes are perpetrated by someone known to the victim, often in the context of personal disagreements. These studies show us the reality that many crimes are not random, but rather the culmination of unresolved interpersonal tensions. 

Data from the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department show that more than half of all homicides from 2020 to 2024––where the contributing factors are known––stemmed from arguments. 

Lowering Crime Rates with Conflict Resolution 

Conflict Resolution strategies have been proven to lower crime rates in communities where they are implemented. In Chicago, the Peacekeepers Program uses trained conflict resolution mediators—often individuals with past involvement in the criminal justice system—to intervene in conflicts before they escalate. Evaluations of the program have shown a substantial reduction in shootings in the neighborhoods where it operates. A recent study from Northwestern University reported that the Peacekeeper program contributed to a 41% overall reduction in victimizations in 2023-2024 compared to the previous two-year period. 

The evidence is clear: when people are equipped with the tools from community resources to resolve conflict peacefully, the ripple effect extends far beyond the individual. Conflict resolution not only reduces immediate tensions but also plays a vital role in preventing crime and building safer, more resilient communities.