My mom used to drop us off at the movies and no one thought anything about it. I guess it depends on the age of the kids.
I dont' know how old you are, but I think it's a different world today. My parents were strict, but they let me do things I wouldn't want my dau or someday grandchildren do. Just because it's a much more dangerous world.
I'm sure it depends upon a variety of factors. Location being one of them. Everytime I read one of these, it always seems to be SoCal, AZ, or FL.
Kids in groups are always going to fare better. Also, you would think that if this had happened as many times as they say, they'd have been able to pick off some surveillance from mall cameras or something in attempting to prevent further instances of solicitation.