Yes, the lack of heated or air-conditioned common area (with a convenient food court) keeps most of the troublemakers away - and the lessor, free of the staggeringly high utility bill that accompanied said common area, can spend more on site security.
The irony is that in the late '60s and early '70s, there were outdoor shopping centers that were converted into enclosed malls. Full circle.
Happened in my home Town, was an open shopping center when I was a kid, then an enclosed Mall...then it grew more and a decade or so later died.
I noticed that a few Malls survived and became the big ones.
In Maryland its Columbia Mall, Towson, Anne Arundel(has the casino) and White Marsh. Most of the others died or were redesigned as open area shopping like Hunt Valley.