Imprint Author

Steven Yoder

Steven Yoder is a freelance reporter for The Imprint. He is based in Woodstock, New York, and can be reached at steven@stevenyoder.net.

9/2/2025

‘Fast, Sudden, Unexplainable and Potentially Catastrophic’

Advocates for incarcerated youth decry Trump-driven reductions in prison rape protections as facility psychologist pleads guilty to sexual assault of teens in her care.

7/15/2025

Police Handcuffing Kids? A NY Constitutional Law Scholar Weighs In

After local police cuffed an 11-year-old girl, The Imprint spoke with Lauryn Gouldin, a professor at the Syracuse University College of Law.

A long, empty desk with microphone and a screen behind it. A sign on the desk reads Raise the Age, got it done.

2/25/2025

Key Youth Justice Reform in NY Faces Scrutiny in the New Legislative Season

Supporters of NY's Raise the Age law say allocated funds haven't been spent on prevention and intervention, while opponents want to charge more youth as adults. 

Albany County Pledged to Move Toward Zero Youth Detention. How is it Doing?

2/10/2025

Albany County Pledged to Move Toward Zero Youth Detention. How is it Doing?

It's been five years since leaders in Albany County, New York decided to strive for zero youth detention, and stakeholders disagree on the progress made.

Study of Bay Area Restorative Justice Program Reveals Promise for Juveniles Who Commit Serious Crimes

11/14/2024

New York Tackles Racial Disproportionality in Juvenile Justice Decisions 

Schenectady County officials have a new approach resulting in a 13% increase in Black youth steered away from the juvenile justice system.

9/3/2024

Class Action Lawsuit Alleges NYC Police Illegally Share Sealed Juvenile Arrest Records

A class action suit filed on behalf of three teenagers accuses NYC officers of illegally using and disclosing minors’ sealed arrest records.

Three Years After Rochester Police Pepper-sprayed a 9-year-old, Here’s What’s Changed — And What Hasn’t

8/27/2024

Three Years After Rochester Police Pepper-sprayed a 9-year-old, Here’s What’s Changed — And What Hasn’t

Since police in Rochester, New York pepper-sprayed a 9-year-old girl in 2021, the city and state have seen reforms in police use of force when it comes to children.

5/29/2024

How Some New York Counties Make Sure Children in Foster Care Stay With Family

Part two of The Imprint’s analysis reveals how New York counties that prioritize kin are keeping foster children within family networks.

How We Support Kin

5/28/2024

New York Set Out to Keep Half of All Foster Youth With Family. Some Counties Still Fall Far Short of That Urgent Goal.

The Imprint’s analysis of New York child welfare agencies’ reliance on family and friends reveals where children end up depends a lot on geography. Part one of a two-part series.

4/25/2021

Fewer Youth are Locked Up in New York, But They’re Still Mostly Kids of Color

The number of kids ages 8 to 21 incarcerated in New York today is almost half what it was 10 years ago. That remarkable trend hasn’t changed who’s inside: mostly Black and brown youth.

4/5/2021

Presence of School Resource Officers Debated in Small Towns, Too

By Steven Yoder

A meeting of the Rise up Kingston group. Photo courtesy of Rise Up
Two decades after schools across the country beefed up police presence on campus in response to the mass shooting at Columbine High, the uprising over the killing of George Floyd has prompted communities small and large to rethink that trend in the name of racial justice.

virtual

2/24/2021

The Virtues of Virtual

What New York’s youth and family courts might keep after the pandemic By Steven Yoder

The Kings County Family Court Building in Brooklyn. Photo: Hiram Duran
Since last March, judges and lawyers in youth and family courts across New York state have been scrambling, like judicial officers around the country, to keep their cases moving along on virtual platforms.

2/9/2021

Calls for Reform Follow Rochester Police Pepper-Spraying a 9-Year-Old Girl

By Steven Yoder

Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren speaks at a press conference about an incident involving the pepper-spraying of a 9-year-old girl by one of the city’s police officers. Photo: YouTube
The response to Rochester police handcuffing and pepper-spraying a fourth-grade girl has been swift: New York state and local lawmakers are joining youth justice advocates to demand systemic changes in how police treat kids. 

1/26/2021

New York Governor Aims to Shut Down Nearly Empty Youth Prisons

The Democratic governor’s proposal is likely to get caught in a cross-current of expectations — from those advocating that the money saved be reinvested in youth services, to unions and legislators who will want to protect local jobs in state facilities whatever the cost.

1/2/2021

New York Legislators Say They Want Alternatives to Costly Youth Prisons

State and local governments are limping into a second year facing off with budgets decimated by the coronavirus. In New York state, some lawmakers are eyeing one item freighted with financial and moral burdens: the sky-high cost of youth prisons. In November, The Imprint reported on the escalating expenses at state-operated detention facilities that have reached an annual average of nearly $900,000 per youth.

11/22/2020

Sticker Shock: The Cost of New York’s Youth Prisons Approaches $1 Million Per Kid

By Steven Yoder

The Brookwood Secure Center in Claverack, New York, is one of 11 locked juvenile facilities operated by the Office of Children and Family Services. Photo: Steven Yoder
A dozen years ago, New York state revealed that taxpayers were shelling out $140,000 to $200,000 each year to house each young person in the state’s juvenile facilities.