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 South Carolina, there is no specific 'stop and identify' statute that requires individuals to provide their identification to police officers under all circumstances. However, under South Carolina law, during a lawful stop or detention, if an officer has reasonable suspicion that a person is involved in criminal activity, the person may be asked to identify themselves. While there is no statute that compels a person to provide ID just because an officer asks, failure to comply with lawful orders during a police encounter could lead to charges such as obstructing justice. Additionally, providing false information to law enforcement is a crime under South Carolina Code § 16-17-725, which makes it illegal to knowingly and willfully give false information to law enforcement about one's identity after having been lawfully detained and when the information is material to the law enforcement process. It's important to note that the Fifth Amendment provides protections against self-incrimination, which means individuals may have the right to refuse to provide their name if doing so could be incriminating, as established by the U.S. Supreme Court in Kolender v. Lawson.