With Leila Atassi

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Juvenile Court judge has ordered three teenage girls who were victims of sexual assault to submit to polygraph tests, baffling prosecutors and upsetting the victims.

Cuyahoga Juvenile Court Judge Alison Floyd ordered victims connected with four separate cases to be examined after she had found their attackers delinquent, the Juvenile Court equivalent of guilty.

Floyd also ordered the teenage boys who were accused of rape and other sex crimes in those cases to undergo polygraph examinations as part of an assessment done before the teens would be sentenced.

None of the teen victims has followed the judge's order.

Floyd did not respond to three days of attempts to contact her for comment.

It is unclear from her orders what Floyd's intention was in having victims take polygraph exams or what questions would be asked of them.

"The situation made no sense to us," the mother of a 16-year-old victim said in a message relayed through Cleveland Rape Crisis Center Director of Advocacy Ashley Hawke.

"I believe even more damage was done by the judge letting the perpetrator know she was ordering the victim to take the polygraph. He apparently took this to mean the judge did not believe her and he used this to tell their peers that the judge did not believe her and was ordering her take a lie detector test," the mother wrote.

"It felt like the blame was back on her and she was being victimized, by not only him [again], but by the system as well."

Prosecutor Bill Mason's office so far has filed briefs in two of the cases, asking Floyd to stop ordering rape victims to submit to polygraph tests.

The judge does not have authority over victims, according to the motion filed by Assistant County Prosecutor Nicole Ellis.

She argued that the judge's order also violated the state's rape shield law and public policy.

"It is clear that the court is attempting to re-investigate the case after the child was found delinquent," Ellis wrote. "The legislature enacted the rape shield statute to protect victims from undue harassment, a tendency in sexual assault cases to try the victims rather than the defendant."

Megan O'Bryan, president and CEO of the Rape Crisis Center, said the center -- which is assisting three of the victims -- does not condone the polygraph tests for sexual assault survivors.

"It violates federal law mandated through the 2005 Violence Against Women Act," O'Bryan said in an e-mail this week. "The practice puts us at risk for losing critical VAWA funding and philosophically is not victim-centered, especially for those reporting rape.

"The practice could be intimidating for rape survivors who already have difficulty in coming forward, and sends a message that their story is not believed," she said.

Robin Palmer is director of The Mokita Center, which contracts with the Juvenile Court to do assessments, counseling and monitoring of juveniles charged with sex-related crimes -- which sometimes includes polygraph testing. Palmer has been trained and has conducted polygraph exams since 1996.

She said the exams in general can be useful for police investigations and for treatment and monitoring of offenders after they have been convicted. But it is not always appropriate.

"You want to make sure you are doing polygraphs for the right reasons and following best practices," Palmer said.

She said she doesn't recall examining victims in sexual assault cases unless it was at the victim's request.

Court administrators told Palmer the court would not pay for the examinations Floyd ordered, leaving the victims responsible for the cost. The examination of victims is not included in the court's contract, court Administrator Marita Kavalec said.

Beyond that, she said the court would prefer not to comment on any matter pending in front of any judge.