Which states explicitly criminalize refusal to give name during a lawful stop, and what are the penalties?
Executive summary
Twenty-six U.S. states had some form of “stop and identify” statute as of 2024, but whether a refusal to give a name is itself a distinct crime depends on state wording and judicial interpretation — in many states refusal is prosecuted under separate obstruction or resisting statutes rather than a standalone “failure to identify” offense [1] [2]. Sources compiled by legal groups and reporters show a patchwork: some states explicitly require a name (Nevada is a commonly cited example), others authorize detention to ascertain identity, and many leave penalties to related criminal statutes such as obstruction, often charged as misdemeanors with typical penalties up to one year in jail and fines [1] [2] [3].
1. The landscape: how many states and what “stop and identify” means
Research aggregators and legal summaries report that 26 states maintain stop-and-identify statutes that allow officers to demand identity when they have reasonable suspicion that a person committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime; the specific required information (name, address, date of birth, or production of ID) varies by statute and by state [1] [2]. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the concept that a state may require a person to disclose their name during a Terry stop in Hiibel, but stressed that such statutes must be applied only when the stop itself is lawful — a guardrail repeated across reporting [2].
2. Who explicitly criminalizes refusal — and who doesn’t
A clear, universal roster of states that explicitly criminalize refusal to provide a name is not contained in the provided reporting; Wikipedia and World Population Review both list states with stop-and-identify laws but make an important legal distinction: some state statutes impose a direct penalty for refusing to identify, while others do not and instead leave enforcement to general obstruction or resisting statutes [2] [1]. For example, Nevada’s statute was the subject of the Hiibel decision and requires disclosure of a full name in certain circumstances [2] [1]. Conversely, Wisconsin’s statute allows officers to demand ID but, according to legal annotations cited on Wikipedia, does not impose a statutory penalty for refusal — although courts have noted refusal could still lead to obstruction charges under separate laws [2].
3. Typical penalties applied in practice
When refusal is criminally punished, practitioners and summaries report that prosecutors most often rely on misdemeanor obstruction, resisting, or delaying-a-peace-officer statutes; penalties commonly cited for these misdemeanors include fines and jail terms up to one year, though specifics vary by state [3]. Aggregators and legal guides warn that the practical consequence of refusal is frequently arrest for an ancillary charge rather than a uniform “failure to identify” offense — the real-world risk varies depending on the state code language and local prosecutorial practice [3] [1].
4. Why the variation matters — vagueness, civil liberties, and enforcement discretion
Scholars and court decisions have long flagged vagueness problems where statutes require “credible and reliable” identification without defining those terms; the Supreme Court’s Kolender decision striking down an overbroad identification statute and the later Hiibel ruling illustrate both constitutional limits and the narrow ways courts permit identity demands [2]. Civil-liberties groups and recent compilations note that even when statutes exist, enforcement can amplify racial profiling and discretionary stops, which is why advocacy organizations and legal charts (for example the ACLU’s state chart) track both statutory text and enforcement outcomes rather than assuming uniform penalties [4] [1].
5. Bottom line and reporting limits
The available sources confirm that roughly half of U.S. states have stop-and-identify statutes and that penalties for refusal are often pursued under obstruction or misdemeanor statutes [1] [2] [3], but the provided reporting does not include an authoritative, state-by-state table that labels which states explicitly criminalize refusal in statute text and the precise penalty for that refusal; specialized primary sources (state codes) or the ACLU’s detailed chart are necessary for a definitive per-state list [4] [2].