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Unit Teaching about Hate Crimes and Their Impacts
"Hate crime" words on a dark surface
Mini-Lesson
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What Makes Hate Crimes Different from Other Crimes?

Students learn what hate crimes are and how they can take care of themselves and others while learning about hate crimes.

Subject

  • Advisory
  • Social Studies

Grade

6–12

Language

English — US

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About This Mini-Lesson

This is the first mini-lesson in a five-part series on hate crimes and their impacts, created in partnership with the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC), part of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit.

In this mini-lesson, students learn about what hate crimes are and what makes them different from other types of crime. They also consider how they can take care of themselves and others throughout this unit. 

Materials

View in Google Drive

Teaching Note

Before teaching this mini-lesson, please review the following information to help guide your preparation process.

In this unit, students will encounter descriptions of hate crimes and their impacts on people and communities. While we have chosen examples that we believe convey the seriousness of these crimes without being overly graphic, this topic is emotionally challenging and can elicit a range of emotional responses from students. We can’t emphasize enough the importance of previewing the resources in this curriculum to make sure they are appropriate for the intellectual and emotional needs of your students.

It is difficult to predict how students will respond to such challenging content. One student may respond with emotion to an account or source, while others may not find it powerful in the same way. In addition, different people demonstrate emotion in different ways. Some students will be silent. Some may laugh. Some may not want to talk. Some may take days to process difficult stories. For some, a particular firsthand account may be incomprehensible; for others, it may be familiar.

We urge teachers to create space for students to have a range of reactions and emotions, while also holding students accountable to your class norms. This might include allowing time for silent reflection or writing in journals, as well as facilitating structured discussions to help students process content together. Some students will not want to share their reactions to emotionally challenging content in class, and teachers should respect that in discussions. For their learning and emotional growth, it is crucial to allow for a variety of student responses to emotionally challenging content.

Activities

Activity 1: What Are Hate Crimes?

Distribute the explainer What Is a Hate Crime and How Do Hate Crimes Impact People? Read the first section aloud as a class. Then ask students:

  • According to what you learned, what is the difference between a hate crime and other types of crime? For example, what would be the difference between property damage that is a hate crime and property damage that is not?
  • Why do you think hate crimes are punished differently than other crimes?

Activity 2: How Can We Take Care of Ourselves and Others Throughout This Unit?

Hate crimes can be an emotionally challenging topic for students to learn about. Before teaching the following lessons in this unit, take time to either create a class contract using our Contracting teaching strategy or to revisit the norms in your existing contract with your students.

Provide students with a list of feeling words, such as the following:

  • Angry
  • Confused
  • Curious
  • Nervous
  • Numb
  • “Nothing”
  • Eager
  • Reluctant
  • Frightened
  • Sad
  • Frustrated

Ask students to respond to the question below using feelings from the list you provided or other ones. You may wish to give them the option to share their responses anonymously (for example, in a word cloud).

What feelings are you carrying with you after reading and talking about hate crimes?

Then discuss the following questions as a class:

  • Are there actions you would like to take to help you take care of yourself and process what you learn about hate crimes?
  • What do we need from each other to create a safe and brave space for our conversations about hate crimes and their impacts?
  • How can our class norms help us hold meaningful conversations on this topic?

Activity 3 Final Reflection

Ask students to write their response to the following question on an exit ticket:

  • What is one norm from our contract that you think will be especially helpful throughout this unit and why?

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Mini-Lesson

What Makes Hate Crimes Different from Other Crimes?

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