The "School Violence Survey" (SVS) was developed as an instrument to investigate students' perceptions of school environment, their experiences and interactions within diverse social groups, and their views on school violence issues including bullying. A total of 806 students across four Midwest high schools and middle schools completed the paper version of the survey while at school. Of those students, 130 also completed the same survey online. The goal of utilizing two formats was to examine the validity of the relationship between the responses on the paper version versus the online version. The results indicated that the online SVS was a psychometrically valid instrument. In addition, an important factor emerged, Group Control, that indicated that as the adult administration and teachers allowed one group of students to maintain the behavior of other groups of students, the likelihood of violent behavior, such as bullying and witnessing students being threatened with weapons, increased. In addition, as the Group Control variable increased, so too did the students feelings that they were less safe at school, and that they were more likely to think of ways to make schools safer. The present study indicated that school environment and climate play a critical role in the development of violent behavior. (Contains 10 tables.)