http://abcnews.go.com/Business/shopping-malls-increasingly-putting-restrictions-teens/story?id=11701470&page=1

For or Against?

As long as we're banning blacks and hispanics too, definitely for.

Kinda of a dick move.

I was going to start a thread on this earlier, but I forgot. Good move, BI.

I think the malls' concerns are valid. Their primary goal is to generate income, and if they feel that congregations of loitering teens impedes in that goal, then they have the right to break that up.

The larger problem is that there's a lack of common places for the young to hang out at. Our crazy drinking ages pretty much shut out bars, and what else is there to go in suburbia?

I see their point but I cant understand how adults in departament stores would bother about teens in other areas of the mall. Must be some really grumpy old bastards.

I can understand. My mom works at a JCP and she tells us stories all of the time about them running around free, knocking stuff over, annoying old bastards (which is anyone older than teen) and just being a menace. So less people come to the stores and buy elsewhere. I know I won't go to the mall unless I absolutely have to go.

to this rule.

The OP mentions that malls, much like Six Flags, are used as day-care for teenagers. It makes sense they would go crazy in an environment where they have no power, no money, and no one will step up to control them for fear of a beat down or a lawsuit. Empowering our kids makes for powerful children.

wouldn't it be easier/cheaper to recriminate the teens when they actually do something bad (run, knock stuff over, even for being loud) than to enforce the guardian/small group rules?

What if it's not actual bad behavior but just the idea of them congregating in general? A group of 5-10 teenage boys loitering in the mall can absolutely seem threatening, and could theoretically be a reason some people would choose not to visit the mall.

But I wonder how it works in all cases. When I was a kid, my parents and I would go to the mall occasionally and would usually split up once we got there so we could each visit the stores we were interested in, and we'd meet back at an appointed time. Would this sort of thing be restricted? Would a teen at the mall with his/her parents have to stay with them?

i know malls are private property, and commercial endeavors, as opposed to public places, so the whole debate is moot. they can do what they want.

that being said, breaking up a group of teens because they "seem threatening" is a bit much for me to accept. they're hanging out in a FUCKING MALL, how threatening can they be? the machine has won, they're not going to start a revolution in the mall.

The story says that many of the malls are up 5% in profit - so I would guess it is cheaper to hire a mall cop and break them if you're going to have that much more revenue coming in.

They can seem threatening. Not sure about other malls, but many at our mall dress as gang bangers (yeah, tough suburban life) and they do start some fights. Our malls has had a couple of knifings and shooting in the last year. The mall isn't in a bad neighborhood either, they just all congregate there.

A lack of common places for young people to hang out? What? Go to the park and play some sports. I know, I'm thinking waaaaaay outside of the box here. I wonder how millions of teenagers without access to a mall ever make it through life.

I'm not arguing malls shouldn't be able to have these restrictions but... Most of the parks around where I live (and I assume most other places as well) close at dusk which is the same time the mall's are restricting kids from being there so I think GH has a valid point.

I don't think labeling kids as criminals ever helps, or creating laws which are based on the idea that kids are criminals. What about dole scrounging chavs who hang around in big groups? They would be exempt as they're not kids. It doesn't work.

what?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chav

The mall needs to hire me for my expert skills on handling teens.

Who do we have here?

Mwahahaha!!!