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 [email protected].

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

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

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

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

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.