Also known as: photo ID · photo identification · photographic identification · photo id · photo-ID
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
3 senses
A government-issued document bearing the bearer's photograph and identifying information. States may condition in-person voting on presentation of such a document when the requirement applies evenly to all voters and advances interests in deterring fraud and maintaining public confidence in elections without imposing an undue burden on the right to vote.
A government-issued document bearing the bearer's photograph and identifying information. States may condition in-person voting on presentation of such a document when the requirement applies evenly to all voters and advances interests in deterring fraud and maintaining public confidence in elections without imposing an undue burden on the right to vote.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A photographic array displayed to a witness for pretrial identification of a suspect. Such procedures do not constitute a critical stage of prosecution at which the Sixth Amendment guarantees the presence of counsel.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A photographic array displayed to a witness for pretrial identification of a suspect. Due process requires suppression only if the procedure is unnecessarily suggestive and creates a substantial likelihood of misidentification under the totality of the circumstances.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A photographic array displayed to a witness for pretrial identification of a suspect. Such procedures do not constitute a critical stage of prosecution at which the Sixth Amendment guarantees the presence of counsel.
A photographic array displayed to a witness for pretrial identification of a suspect. Due process requires suppression only if the procedure is unnecessarily suggestive and creates a substantial likelihood of misidentification under the totality of the circumstances.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Piper Patel arrives at her precinct on Election Day without a government-issued photo ID. Election officials deny her a ballot under a state statute requiring such identification for all in-person voters. The uniform rule advances the state's interests in preventing impersonation and preserving election integrity. Patel's subsequent challenge fails because the requirement imposes only a limited burden that does not outweigh those interests.
A state may require in-person voters to present government-issued photo identification when the rule applies evenly to all voters and serves sufficiently weighty interests in deterring fraud and preserving election integrity without imposing an undue burden.
Supporting sources
After an armed robbery, police display a six-photograph array to the victim. Pavel Petrov's image appears among the others. The victim selects Petrov's photograph. Because the procedure involves only photographs and occurs before indictment, Petrov has no Sixth Amendment right to counsel at the viewing.
After arresting Portia Price on unrelated charges, officers show a photo array to a witness of a prior robbery. Price had requested counsel in the unrelated matter. The array proceeds without counsel because photographic identifications are not critical stages requiring Sixth Amendment protection.
No. Photographic identifications are not critical stages of prosecution. The suspect is not present, so counsel cannot perform a protective function during the viewing itself.
Supporting sources
An undercover officer views a single photograph of Patrick Phan after purchasing narcotics from a suspect. The display occurs shortly after the transaction under good lighting conditions. The identification is admissible because the circumstances do not create a substantial likelihood of misidentification despite the procedure's suggestiveness.
Police bring Phuong Pham to a hospital room where the victim, still in critical condition, identifies him. The victim had only a brief view during the assault. The identification is upheld because the necessity of the procedure and the victim's opportunity to observe outweigh any suggestiveness.
Preston Pratt stands in a police station when a witness spontaneously identifies him without any police prompting or arrangement. Because the identification did not result from an unnecessarily suggestive police procedure, due process analysis does not apply and the testimony is admissible.
A suggestive identification is admissible if, under the totality of the circumstances, it does not create a substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification. Factors include the witness's opportunity to view the suspect, degree of attention, accuracy of prior description, level of certainty, and time between crime and identification.
Supporting sources
No. Due process constrains only unnecessarily suggestive procedures arranged by police that create a substantial likelihood of misidentification. Spontaneous identifications not arranged by police fall outside this protection.
Supporting sources
…that the right to counsel, which had previously been recognized as arising only at the trial, must now be extended to a pretrial photographic identification. (c) A photographic display at which the accused is not present results in no interference with the lawyer-client relationship, since the accused has no right to be present. (d) A…