identification parade

plural identification parades

1. governmentA process by which a witness confirms the identity of a criminal suspect, by viewing the suspect together with other people who were not involved in the crime.

   One of the ticket clerks at the Brahmpur Railway Station was going to be asked to try to pick Maan out at an identification parade in the jail. Under these circumstances, he could not let Maan’s head be shaved.

   1993, Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy, Boston: Little, Brown, Chapter 17.26, pp. 1330-1331

   1 more example

   He had once in his early days dropped in with his Superintendent at an identification parade. It was not his case, and they were both there on other business, but they lingered in the background and watched while a man and a woman, separately, walked down the line of twelve nondescript men, looking for the one they hoped to recognise.

   1951, Josephine Tey, chapter 2, in The Daughter of Time, London: Peter Davies, page 24

   Synonyms: identity parade, lineup, police lineup