Essay On Banning Teenagers From Mall

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Banning Teenagers from Malls

If you are talking about teenagers, then malls are the worst place for them nowadays. Banning teenagers from malls is not a new thing. Since 2007, many curfews have been imposed on teenagers. If you are unsupervised teen, then chances are you will be being banned in first twenty minutes from the mall security. Banning teenagers is just like a trend nowadays, as every major mall has banned unsupervised teenagers at least on weekends. Question is why you would ban a 13-year-old from buying video games or a surprise T-shirt for his brother. Bans on teenagers start from not letting them inside the mall without adult on Weekends to ban on groups of four or more teenagers enter into a mall even if supervised. “We like teenagers and we welcome them to our mall but we want them to behave that’s all” it was said by Bremner, Manager of Estridge Mall.
History of escort policy and banning children goes back to the 90's and the first mall to implement escort policy was The Mall of America in Bloomington . After that it became a tradition, and now every mall has implemented this policy. Disturbances done by teens are common in malls but banning a particular age group from entering a mall can be classified as racist or ageist.
Teenagers nowadays are mature enough to make their own decisions and buying from the mall is just a minor thing. Police states that youth are the main cause of violence in malls but are adults any lesser than teenagers? History of mall incidents involving youth touched its peak back in 1995 when about 300 incidents involved youth and malls . However, you cannot justify banning teenagers by statistics of twenty years old report. Teenagers are youngsters and frankly, one would trust a teenager more than an adult. Some people are of view that teenagers are the reason why shoplifting exists, but in a practical sense, only 30% of shoplifting crime includes teenagers.
Parental escort policy is implemented by almost every mall in United States and quite unfair policy it is as parents are always busy in their work, and even if they have time, they will not be taking you to your favorite mall. Malls are most fun with friends and weekends are the only time when you are able to go out with them, but you cannot as you are banned from shopping!
If you are going to ban teenagers from malls, it is quite normal that they grow up hating that particular mall. Imagine yourself standing in the hallway of a mall, and suddenly a security guard gives you “the suspicious look” and asks you to leave the mall immediately. The humiliation will be unbearable for sensitive people. Many teenagers protested back in 1995 when The Mall of America implemented policy for the first time.
Teenagers contribute a lot to the mall as every mall has about 30% teen-oriented stores at least and if teenagers cannot visit it because of mall’s policy then what is the point of opening the teenage stores in malls? Most of the teenagers like to shop alone, and if you have to bring your father with you to buy him a surprise gift, it is no fun at all.
Another view of banning teenagers from mall is that many elder customers have returned for shopping as they felt hostile or uncomfortable due to teenage presence. “They are running, shouting, playing and fighting around, this is not what malls are for,” says a customer when asked about teenage behavior. “Malls are not a place for hangouts and we won’t let teenagers make it one” says spokesmen for Atlantic Terminal Mall adding that they are concerned with “overall experience of the mall” .
Pros of banning teenagers are that kids will now be parent’s problem, and they will probably be coming to their parents and mall will get more business and security concerns will be lower. However, if you are already 16 and still going out shopping with parents that feels a bit odd. On the other hand, parents, never agree to take kids out of shopping, not every weekend, and even if they do, it will be a boring experience for teenagers.
Cons of banning teenagers include teenagers are not liking the mall and doing E-Shopping which is bad for mall and even if teenagers are coming with their parents, they’ll never be able to shop like they used to. If banning teenagers improves business, then schools are the first place to start. It is quite common for a teenager to visit mall on weekend and it’s like basically snatching a right from them and the less chance we’ll give them to prove themselves, worthy of our respect, the less likely they will . Teenagers rely on their parents for everything and if a teenager is buying in a mall, it is his parent’s money for sure and sometimes asking your parent to take you to mall is just a big no for many teenagers. Business suffers from banning teenagers as about 60% of teenagers stopped going to mall at all after the escort policy’s first implementation but it also increased mall’s business as the elder people who were hesitant started visiting malls with supervision.
In early 2013 incidents like teen shooting and teen, brawl made Indianapolis mall to impose restrictions on teenagers. It was done not to please anyone but to stop violence and such incidents in the future. Such incidents raise concerns for other shoppers and make them hesitant to shop in the mall. As stated earlier, just year before the first Parental escort policy, about 300 incidents like that took place. “Malls are crowded only by teen mobs if no restrictions are imposed and if you want to make your mall look less like a high school, Parental Escort Policy should be implemented,” says manager of St. Louis Outlet Mall.
According to business point of view, it is unwise to kick customers but statistics of St. Louis Mall showed that in the first month of Parental Escort Policy implemented on Fridays and Saturdays, sales went up to 13% in all categories and Mall traffic was up 5%. Manager of Crossgate Mall describes situation of mall before restrictions as “babysitting service” but that is one side of the story, many people let their kids go to malls alone or with friends because they feel that malls are safer place than any other places they might be. Also banning a particular age group never ensures safety .
“Scaring away the older customers is the most amazing part of the mall policy, I wonder if teens are scary enough, teenagers are irresponsible but banning them is not the answer, policy should be reviewed and only troublemakers should be banned or punished ” says anonymous lawyer when asked about reviews on parental escort policy. Malls with no teenagers also are shoplifted, and violence is not stopped until now.
At the end of the day, banning a particular group will never end violence. Other policies should be adopted to make malls a better place and shopping is a basic right of every human being and not all teenagers are troublemakers.

References

Carpenter, C. (2007, June 6). For teens, its curfew time. Retrieved from CSmonitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0606/p20s01-ussc.html
Evans, B. (2009, April 3). Teens banned from mall. Retrieved from Wyoming news: http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2009/04/04/featured_story/01top_04-04-09.txt#.VLvAA2OT1dg
Keen, J. (2007, 3 15). Mall's night restriction. Retrieved from USA TODAY: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-15-malls-night-restrictions_N.htm
Roll, d. (2010, September 23). banning teenagers from mall is good for business? Retrieved from hitch hiker's guide to national affairs: http://aragonhitchhikers.blogspot.com/2010/09/banning-teens-from-malls-is-good-for.html
Turtle, B. (2013, Jan 23). Restrictions on unsupervised teens. Retrieved from business, Times: http://business.time.com/2013/01/24/hey-kid-wheres-your-mom-malls-ratchet-up-restrictions-on-unsupervised-teens/