CAWS North Dakota has initiated and worked in partnership with others to make significant changed in North Dakota public policy, including: making marital rape a crime; establishing Orders of Protection; protecting confidentiality for domestic and sexual violence advocates; and ensuring that the state pay for sexual assault forensic evidence examinations, instead of the victim. CAWS North Dakota is responsible for designing the funding plan used to award state funding for domestic violence and sexual assault services—allowing for equitable distribution of funds among eligible programs to stabilize and provide access to services throughout the state. Currently, North Dakota has no specific defined crime of domestic violence, crimes of assault against a household and/or family member are treated as crimes of domestic violence.