Ohio's failure-to-disclose law: name, address, or date of birth

Ohio's duty to identify attaches earlier than the Texas version, which is triggered by a lawful arrest, and it exists at all, unlike California and New York, which have no general stop-and-identify statute. R.C. 2921.29 was enacted by Senate Bill 9 of the 126th General Assembly and has been effective in its current form since April 14, 2006. It sits in Chapter 2921, the offenses-against-justice chapter, not in the traffic code, so it applies to anyone in a public place and not only to drivers.

Two separate triggers appear in division (A). The first, in (A)(1), is reasonable suspicion that the person is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a criminal offense. The second, in (A)(2), is unusual among state identification statutes because it reaches witnesses rather than suspects: the duty applies where the officer reasonably suspects the person witnessed an offense of violence that would be a felony in Ohio, a felony causing or creating a substantial risk of serious physical harm to a person or to property, an attempt or conspiracy to commit or complicity in either of those, or conduct reasonably indicating that any of them has been, is being, or is about to be committed. A bystander to a shooting therefore owes the same three items a suspect does.

The statute is deliberately narrow about what it compels. Division (C) contains two sentences that matter in practice. The first is that nothing in the section requires a person to answer any question beyond name, address, or date of birth. The second is that nothing in the section authorizes an officer to arrest a person for refusing to give information beyond those three items or for refusing to describe the offense observed. A witness who supplies a name and address, then declines to say what they saw, has complied with R.C. 2921.29.

Division (D) adds an age exception that is easy to miss. It is not a violation to refuse to answer a question that would reveal a person's age or date of birth if age is an element of the crime the person is suspected of committing. Underage-consumption and curfew stops are the obvious cases, and a person suspected of one of them can decline the birth date while still giving a name and address.

Drivers carry a second, separate duty. R.C. 4507.35(A) requires the operator of a motor vehicle to display a driver's license, or furnish satisfactory proof of holding one, on the demand of any peace officer, and says the operator shall not refuse to display the license if it is on or about the operator's person. That offense is an unclassified misdemeanor with no jail term available, a fine of up to $1,000 and up to five hundred hours of community service, and it rises to a first-degree misdemeanor on a third conviction within three years. Passengers owe nothing under 4507.35.

Giving a false name is a considerably worse choice than staying silent. R.C. 2921.13(A)(3) makes a knowingly false statement made with purpose to mislead a public official in performing an official function the offense of falsification, a first-degree misdemeanor under division (F)(1), which carries up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, six times the maximum exposure under 2921.29.

Identity also decides whether a minor Ohio offense ends in a citation or in handcuffs. R.C. 2935.26(A) requires an officer who could arrest for a minor misdemeanor to issue a citation instead, but division (A)(2) removes that protection where the offender cannot or will not offer satisfactory evidence of identity. Since 2023 the state has also required officers to be trained on the subject: R.C. 109.803(B)(4)(c), added by House Bill 33 of the 135th General Assembly effective October 3, 2023, directs the Attorney General's rules to cover laws on questioning and detention including any law requiring a person to present proof of identity to a peace officer, and the consequences of failure to comply.

C. 29(B) is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree. C. C. 28(A)(2)(a) caps the fine at $250. Charges are filed in the municipal or county court with jurisdiction over the place of the stop, and there is no administrative penalty and no driver's license consequence attached to the section. 29 charge falls with it. C. 35 faces a separate unclassified misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000 but no jail, escalating to a first-degree misdemeanor on a third conviction within three years. C. 13, a first-degree misdemeanor with up to 180 days in jail.