Factors contributing to perceived increases in public school violence include (1) dramatic increases in school size, (2) increased use of high-technology equipment, (3) a decrease in school-administered discipline due to the increasing complexity of due process compliance procedures, and (4) initiation of data collection on school violence by newly formed offices of school security. Included are selected data on the incidence, nature and cost of school crime from the 3-year Safe School Study of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The three major findings are the extent to which student fear affects school behavior, the predominance of violent student behavior at the junior high school level, and the decisive power of the school principal in affecting relative school safety. Federal government actions taken in response to growing school violence include public hearings on school violence, passage of the 1974 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, and judicial case delineation of what schools may and may not do concerning discipline, suspension, and expulsion. The loss of personal freedom due to fear, the fear of school locations and persons, the lowering of educational quality, and loss of respect for authority are discussed as consequences of violence and vandalism in public schools.