The purpose of this paper is to encourage persons concerned with violence and vandalism in schools to take a more critical look at school-crime statistics and reports and their data-gathering methods. It makes two points. First, writings on or about student crime and violence may be misleading because of certain errors in quantifiable data, such as poor data analysis or use of inappropriate study methodologies; second, certain related nonquantifiable issues, such as the fear of crime, also confound interpretation of this problem. The paper concludes by urging additional research and caution in the use of existing data. (Author/LD)