The Daily Express yesterday, based on anecdotal evidence gathered by the Scottish Conservatives has the above and:

Furious Glasgow residents have claimed they are being subjected to a wave of terror by youth gangs wielding weapons such as knives, saws and axes. Locals in the Southside area of the city voiced concerns around youngsters in the Pollok, Crookston and Paisley Road West area of the city reporting a severe increase in anti-social behaviour, involving kids as young as 11.

From Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2025-26 published 23 June 2026, this table:

Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2025-26/pages/total-recorded-crime/

One year variations are often unreliable indicators of trends but comparing the averages of three to five year groups is less so. You can see above that comparing the average rate of crimes per 10 000 population in 2015-2018 with those in the most recent three years reveals that in almost all of the categories of crime claimed by the Scottish Cons in the Express, above, to be increasing are in decline and as rates per 10 000, becoming rare.

So, in Glasgow, the kinds of crime being reported anecdotally by the Cons and the Express, are objectively, statistically, in decline but we don’t have a breakdown by age for these statistics.

So, from national data on youth offending and violence in Glasgow, Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) data tracks referrals on offence grounds, primarily for children under 16–18 in the Children’s Hearings System):

In 2024/25, 2,447 children (aged 12–17) were referred on offence grounds, involving 1,978 alleged violent offences. This was down 9.4% in children referred and 9.3% in alleged offences from 2023/24. https://www.scra.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Full-statistical-analysis-2024-25.pdf

Non-sexual crimes of violence (a key category including assaults) accounted for 3,302 alleged offences in 2024/25. This was down 14.5% from 3,862 in the year before. Other categories like damage/reckless behaviour and antisocial offences also fell sharply. https://www.scra.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Full-statistical-analysis-2024-25.pdf