• In 1996-97, 10 percent of all public schools reported at least one serious violent crime to a law enforcement representative (figure 7.1 and table 7.1). Another 47 percent of public schools reported a less serious violent or nonviolent crime (but not a serious violent one). The remaining 43 percent of public schools did not report any of these crimes to the police.
• The vast majority of crimes reported by public schools were of the less serious violent or nonviolent type in 1996-97 (402,000 out of the 424,000 total crimes reported to the police) (table 7.3).
• No differences were found between the percentage of schools reporting crimes at the middle and high school levels (figure 7.2 and table 7.1). At each level, about 20 percent of the schools reported at least one serious violent crime, and about 55 percent reported at least one less serious violent or nonviolent crime, but no serious violent crime in 1996-97.
• The numbers of reported incidents per 1,000 students did not differ for middle and high schools for both serious violent and less serious violent and nonviolent crimes (figure 7.2 and table 7.4). For both types of crimes, there was a lower rate at the elementary level than at the middle or high school levels.
• The percentage of schools reporting at least one serious violent crime was much higher in cities (17 percent) than in towns (5 percent) or rural areas (8 percent) during 1996-97 (figure 7.2 and table 7.1).

*This indicator repeats information from the 2000 Indicators of School Crime and Safety report.