Starting this past Friday, the Walden Galleria Mall now checks young patrons for identification as it begins to enforce a new policy regarding teenagers: on Friday and Saturdays after 4 p.m., no one under the age of 18 is allowed into the mall unless supervised by a parent or guardian over the age of 21. The policy, intended to curb loitering and shoplifting, is a positive step towards putting parental responsibility back where it belongs, but the curfew is too stringent.
The idea is easy to support. Unguarded teenagers in large groups, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, are well known for causing trouble and being rowdy under the guise of "hanging out." This type of behavior has become too much for the patrons and shop owners in the mall to have to deal with on a weekly basis.
Incidences of shoplifting and vandalism, as well as other criminal activity, are a result of unsupervised youth acting out of boredom. This policy should serve as a reminder to parents that the mall is not a babysitter. Too often, we hear stories of teenage violence at malls, simply because they are allowed to roam free with no one to take responsibility for them.
Under the new policy, parents may still walk around the mall with their teenagers until closing. The only exception to the mall's policy is that unsupervised teenagers under the age of 18 are allowed to be in the movie theater section of the mall after the 4 p.m. curfew. They cannot leave the immediate movie area; they must go directly to the cinema and leave the premises as soon as the showing concludes.
Because the mall is not public property, but rather privately held, the management is well within its legal limits to impose the policy. Indeed, support for the idea came flooding in after the mall announced the upcoming change.
While this curfew policy is important and necessary, a starting time of 4 p.m. is unnecessarily harsh. Teens, as any other age group, have valid reasons for shopping, and not all teens are part of the groups which the stores complain about. The new policy should go into effect after 6 or 7 p.m., allowing legitimate customers of the mall time to make their purchases. Rowdy and disruptive behavior, while possible at all times, typically takes place in the evening. Delayed a few hours, the policy would still eliminate the unruly behavior in the hours immediately before the close of the mall.
The purpose of the policy is only to better the shopping environment for the customers of the Walden Galleria. It's a step in the right direction, but mall officials should reconsider punishing an entire age group for the erring ways of a small portion of that group.
