Why the trial by ordeal was actually an effective test of guilt
Inasmuch as this works, or <i>any</i> justice system works, is as much as people believe the system metes out justice.<p>In the USA, in 2017, people who knows they&#x27;re guilty plead not guilty because they have reason to believe that they&#x27;ll be able to get away with something. Either their entire crime, or at least the heaviest punishment for it. Meanwhile, people who know they&#x27;re not guilty frequently plead guilty (or more accurately, take plea bargains) to avoid a slow and expensive justice system they don&#x27;t perceive as an instrument of true justice.<p>Even in the system described in the article, it seems one third of people claimed innocence and yet were found guilty by the priests. My cynical thought is that they didn&#x27;t pay the priest, or weren&#x27;t regular churchgoers, or were &quot;outsiders&quot; to the community, and so justice didn&#x27;t work for them.