Laura L. Rogers

Laura L. Rogers was selected to be the Acting Director of the Office on Violence Against Women on June 14, 2019.

Ms. Rogers began her legal career as a criminal prosecutor in the San Diego County District Attorney's Office in 1988. Throughout her tenure, she specialized in prosecuting child homicides and established the office’s first sex offender registry prosecution unit.

In 2006, Ms. Rogers was appointed by President George W. Bush to establish the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) within the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), at the Department of Justice. In her role as Director, Ms. Rogers led the office to administer the standards of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) for the 50 states, five principal U.S. territories, the District of Columbia, and approximately 155 federally recognized Indian tribes. Additionally, she oversaw the National Sex Offender Public Registry and the administration of $20 million in grants annually.

Ms. Rogers then served as Deputy Director of the Navy’s Criminal Litigation Practice from 2009-2011. Following that, Ms. Rogers joined the Philadelphia Archdiocese Review Board on Sexual Abuse and Pastoral Conduct, where she reviewed cases of sexual abuse allegedly committed by Philadelphia Archdiocese priests. Ms. Rogers later served on the National Review Board of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, where she assisted in the revision of the Catholic Church’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. As Chair of the Audit Committee, she directed a review that identifed diocese-level organizational problems associated with child abuse within the Catholic Church.

Ms. Rogers returned to the OJP’s SMART office in 2018. While serving as Director, Ms. Rogers was also appointed as the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of OJP, where she oversaw the administration of $3.2 billion in grants.

In the past, she taught trial practice at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School and California Western School of Law in San Diego for a combined six years.