The fear of violence among students and teachers is straining the learning environment in many schools. This paper presents findings of a study that investigated school district characteristics in relation to the level of principals' expressed needs for school-violence prevention programs. The district characteristics included finance, size, racial demography, attendance, and academic indicators. Data were derived from a survey of 239 elementary, middle/junior high, and high school principals from 108 school districts in the Mississippi river delta region of Arkansas. Eighty-eight of the districts responded, an 82 percent response rate. Overall, the principals expressed a high level of need for violence-prevention programs. Principals in districts with lower attendance, lower academic performance, and higher percentages of African-American students expressed a higher level of need. The data did not show a relationship between the need for violence-prevention programs and district size or district financial status. (LMI)