This report profiles violence in U.S. public high schools. It is based on data taken from a U.S. Department of Education survey of school principals that asked about the number and types of crimes reported to police for the 1996-97 school year. The analysis shows that 60 percent of the violence occurred in 4 percent of the schools. The high schools were grouped by the nature and level of crimes occurring in the school: no crime, isolated crime, moderate crime, and violent crime. High schools in each group are described in terms of their student-population characteristics, community characteristics, and school-violence prevention efforts. The results indicate that high-violence schools differ markedly from the other schools. They tended to be located in urban areas, had a high percentage of minority students, and were situated in areas with high social disadvantage and residential mobility. However, 36 percent of the schools in the violent-crime group were located in rural areas. Schools in the violent-crime group appeared to put more emphasis on programs geared toward changing individual behavior, which contrasted with high schools in the other three groups, which placed a higher priority on prevention instruction and counselors within the school. The report suggests that methods to prevent violence be tailored to the level and type of crime problems that schools are experiencing. (RJM)