OJJDP has released the Youth Hate Crimes and Identity-Based Bullying Prevention Curriculum, a key component of the Office’s Preventing Youth Hate Crimes and Identity-Based Bullying initiative. The 10-unit curriculum follows a central theme: nurturing the development of respectful, compassionate young people and communities.

The curriculum is designed to:

• Help middle and high schoolers build protective factors—characteristics that make them less likely to engage in or be victimized by hate crimes or bullying.
• Change the attitudes and behaviors of youth who take part in hate crimes and bullying.
• Educate adults—teachers, counselors, and others who work with youth—about the potential use of online technologies to break down cultural barriers and bias. 

“OJJDP’s curriculum will empower young people,” says OJJDP Administrator Liz Ryan. “They’ll learn how to recognize unconscious bias within themselves—to change their own attitudes and behaviors—and become allies for peers who are impacted by bullying caused by other youth. They’ll also learn how to avoid the strategies hate groups use to target and recruit young people.” 

The curriculum development process included 19 roundtable discussion sessions with youth. Held across seven states, the sessions focused on difficult issues young people face every day at school and in their communities, including racism, antisemitism, homophobia, and prejudice toward Native peoples.

The interactive curriculum is intended for use by schools and other youth-serving organizations and community groups to educate young people and help them develop skills to combat bias, prejudice, and hate in their schools, communities, and online. It comprises 10 units with lessons, activities, and resources. The first unit, “The Respectful Community, Part 1: Creating a Vision,” asks youth to identify obstacles to creating a respectful community and to think of changes they can make to achieve one.

Subsequent units address issues such as unconscious bias, the value of diverse perspectives, and hate’s tendency to escalate when unaddressed. The “Crime and Punishment” unit gives an overview of hate crime laws, distinguishing standard criminal behavior from crimes motivated by bias and hate. “Violent Extremism and Youth” asks youth to consider how personal values can be tools to counter hate and learn about the sorts of prejudice that feed violent extremist ideologies. The unit also discusses the use of computer algorithms to encourage violent extremism and conspiracy thinking, and introduces skills to help youth resist violent extremist ideologies and recruitment. The final unit, “The Respectful Community, Part 2: Creating Change,” introduces additional skills that empower youth to act—both individually and collaboratively—in ways that make their communities and the wider world civil and respectful places for all.

“Hateful rhetoric is prolific in our culture, and it’s our job to help young people learn to disengage from divisiveness and discord,” Administrator Ryan says. “The lessons in this curriculum give youth the tools they need to take a stand for kindness and respect in their schools and communities.” 

Resources:

OJJDP launched the Preventing Youth Hate Crimes and Identity-Based Bullying initiative in 2021. The initiative website includes links to video recordings of OJJDP’s two Preventing Youth Hate Crimes and Identity-Based Bullying symposia, a webinar series, fact sheet, and a list of resources related to understanding and preventing hate crimes and identity-based bullying.