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 Tennessee, the law does not specifically require individuals to provide their identification to law enforcement upon request under all circumstances. However, under Tennessee Code Annotated § 40-7-116, a law enforcement officer may request identification from an individual if the officer has reasonable suspicion that the individual is involved in criminal activity. If an individual is lawfully arrested, they are required to provide their name, address, and date of birth to the officer. Failure to provide accurate information following an arrest can result in additional charges. It is also a criminal offense in Tennessee to provide false information to a law enforcement officer. The state's approach to stop-and-identify statutes aligns with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Kolender v. Lawson, which acknowledges that individuals may refuse to provide their name under the Fifth Amendment if they reasonably believe it could be incriminating. However, this protection does not extend to providing false information, which is a separate offense.