Should We ID Teens in Shopping Malls?

This is an intersting topic. A few years ago, local mall security implemented a rule that on friday and sat. nights anyone under the age of 18 needed to be accompanied by an adult. They began id'ing youth that looked possibly younger than 18. This was implemented due to teens hanging out, and local gang activity (I believe). At the age of 24 or 25 (I don't remember how old I was at the time) I got id'ed. What bothered me wasn't that I got id'ed and possibly looked younger. It was the fact that I was actually shopping, with shopping bags, and walking, not just loitering. I feel that it would be one thing to try to eliminate certain problems with teens loitering and causing trouble, but yet another thing to abuse the power by id'ing people just to id them. There are not that many places for teens to hang out, and many just end up hanging out on the streets. I remember when I was a teen, my friends and I would go to the mall every weekend. We didn't cause trouble. We hung out, had fun, bought some food from the food court and maybe some inexpensive purchases. I think that although there are reasons behind these rules, it is unfortunate for those teens who are not causing trouble and do bring buisness to the mall. I knew teens who were 16 and 17 yrs old who had their own car, and their own job (some even worked in the mall), earned their own money and bought their own clothes, yet could not go to the mall on a friday or sat. night. I feel that they need to target the problem itself, not the age of mall customers.

What would the point of this be? Anyone could make up a fake ID. Are they loggin them in or something?

I certainly dont think it's a good idea. Why would teens drive away costumers? It a ridiculous answer, dont you think?But I personally do not like the local teens here who are in malls during school time. That is totally annoying. Why on earth do they skip school and be in the mall? And there are some malls' policy which teens with school uniforms are not allowed to enter the mall.

Teens at the mall can be a nuisance. They mostly stand around and are in the way of people that are trying to shop, which is annoying. It's not as bad as it has been in the previous years, but it's still a nuisance.

Well, i think that IDing them wont be necessary and it will be kind of embarrasing for the teens, personally they dont bother me, although your right with the photo machines and other facilities that everytime i intend to use, i can't because they are just there- hanging around...I think what would be better is for the mall officials to monitor these teens, see if theyre just hanging out in a particular machine that needs to be used by a paying customer, or is being a nuisance i think this is a nice time for the mall officials to approach these teens ask them nicely to leave or go to somewhere that they wont be able to bother customers, and assist the paying customers with what they need to do.

We have two large malls in our town and about 8mths ago they implemented a curfew policy for teen under 18 years of age. No teen under the age of 18 can be in the mall or on the premises after 6pm on Friday and Sat. night. The reason was that they were causing too much trouble. They do check ID. If you take your teen with you shopping after 6pm they must be at your side at all times. This is difficult for me there are times I don't won't to go to the mall and my daughter has to go It requires that i go regardless.I hate the the policy.

I think they should be checked if they are doing something suspicious or are causing trouble in the mall. Otherwise I do not see the need for checking them if they are not being a problem to the stores or customers. I can understand why this mall would do it, especially if they are having problems with too many teens hanging out.