Some states have laws (statutes) that require a person to accurately provide their identification (ID) (name, residence address, date of birth) to the police if the police have reasonable suspicion to believe (1) a crime has been committed, is being committed, or is about to be committed and (2) the person asked to provide identification is involved as a participant or as a witness. If there is no reasonable suspicion, a person does not have to provide identification—but courts often find reasonable suspicion as a matter of course.

These statutes are sometimes called stop-and-identify laws or stop and ID laws, and the violation of the statute may be a criminal offense or crime known as “failure to ID.” Stop and ID laws vary from state to state in the states that have such laws. For example, in some states failure to ID cannot be the basis for an arrest (there must be an underlying criminal offense) and in some states the obligation to provide identification only applies to a person who has been arrested.

And in some states it is a criminal offense for a person to provide a false or fictitious name, residence address, or date of birth if the person has been detained by police on the basis of reasonable suspicion or is believed to be a witness to a criminal offense.

The United States Supreme Court has held that the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution may allow suspects to refuse to give their name if they have a reasonable belief their name could be incriminating. Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352 (1983).

In Louisiana (LA), the law does not specifically require individuals to provide their identification to police officers upon request under all circumstances. However, under Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:108.1, it is a crime to resist an officer which includes the refusal to provide identification when an officer is authorized to request such information. This typically occurs when an officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that a person is involved in criminal activity. If an individual is lawfully detained and refuses to give their name, address, or other requested identifying information, they may be charged with resisting an officer. Additionally, providing false information to a police officer is also a criminal offense under Louisiana law. It's important to note that the requirement to provide identification and the consequences for failing to do so can be influenced by the specific circumstances of the encounter with law enforcement. As per the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Kolender v. Lawson, the Fifth Amendment may protect individuals from having to provide their name in situations where doing so could be self-incriminating.