AS the General Election grows closer many young people are preparing to cast their vote for the first time.

This week we spoke to sixth formers from The Clarendon College in Trowbridge, about politics and their worries about crime and security in the world they live in.

One of the messages from the teenagers centred on how they feel political parties do little to encourage first time voters or appeal to young people in general.

They believe all the major parties could do more to engage young people and said many teenagers feel like scapegoats for society's ills.

Matt Brown, 18, said: "The problem is young people feel targeted as being blamed for crime.

"The vast majority of crime is committed by adults and I think young people would have more respect for the police if they were not being blamed for it."

Crime is a major issue for the young people, both in terms of the bad press they feel they get and as a general worry about the levels of criminal activity in society, but they are divided on what should be done.

They had particularly strong views on the proposed introduction of ID cards and the number of police on the streets.

Karli Lisiecki, 18, said: "I think ID cards would cost too much money to put in place. Putting money into ID cards would just take money away from the NHS or education, where it is really needed."

Toni-Marie Williams, 17, said: "I think they are a good idea. If the Government was doing nothing about security we would all be complaining about that."

Many of the students feel security measures introduced in the wake of the September 11 atrocities are taking the country too far towards a 'Big Brother' state.

Luke Halsall, 18, said: "I strongly disagree with ID cards. I think it is an abominable idea. They are just a stupid Americanisation.

"In my opinion we are losing more and more freedom each day because of anti-terror laws. We need to move on from 9/11."

Far from being apathetic and oblivious to politics as often portrayed, these young people hold very strong views about what they would like to see happen in today's society.

The difficulty lies in how their views align with the policies of the political parties they can vote for.

They agree they and many of their contemporaries are not as informed as they could be about the policies of each of the main parties.

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