Examining Gender- and Drug-Specific Arrest Counts: A Partial Test of Agnew’s General Strain Theory

Despite Agnew`s extension of general strain theory to the macro-level, little attention has been devoted to assessing of the link between community characteristics and gender-specific drug arrests. Prior studies have also neglected to explore gender-based disparities in aggregate arrests for specific drugs. This study examines the influence of community characteristics in explaining variability in gender- and drug-specific arrest counts across 165 cities. Results highlight that the influence of police per capita, drug-specific mortality, and region on drug arrests vary significantly by gender, while the influence of structural disadvantage is relatively consistent between genders.