title: Felon disenfranchisement in the United States: a health equity perspective.
abstract: Approximately 13% of African American men are disqualified from voting because of a felony conviction. I used ecosocial theory to identify how institutionalized racism helps perpetuate health disparities and to explore pathways through which felon disenfranchisement laws may contribute to racial health disparities in the United States. From a literature review, I identified 2 potential pathways: (1) inability to alter inequitable public policies that differentially allocate resources for health; and (2) inability to reintegrate into society by voting, which contributes to allostatic load.
authors.affiliation: Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA. jpp46@drexel.edu
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Purtle
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D052636:Allostasis; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011057:Politics; D011287:Prejudice; D011329:Prisoners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011640:Public Policy; D012934:Social Isolation; D012935:Social Justice; D014481:United States