Can You Detain Children for Shoplifting In Florida ?

In Southland Corp. v. Bartsh, 522 So.2d 1053, 1056 (Fla. 5th DCA 1988), the Court held that a convenience store manager's conduct (having a six-year-old child arrested for stealing gum) was no more than an assertion of the store's rights in a legally permissible way, and was privileged "as a matter of law." In Canto v. J.B. Ivey & Co.., 595 So. 2d 1025, 1028 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992), two children were detained by a merchant who suspected them of shoplifting; citing McCarson and the RESTATEMENT (2D) OF TORTS, the court found "no evidence in the record suggesting that the conduct of either employee even approached the limits of this privilege." See also Mallock v. S. Mem'l Park, Inc., 561 So.2d 330 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990).