[Rule of Law]

You can't be serious. What good is having a Constitution or Bill of Rights at all, if the government is free to violate them at will and without consequences?

The founders understood that the wrongdoer should suffer the consequences -- not society. Police officers who made a false arrest or who wrongfully searched a house without a warrant were liable. They were often sued and had to pay damages. This was an effective deterrent to the violation of citizen's rights.

Letting the criminal go does not punish the wrongdoer. It punishes society. The cop that did it just goes and gets another doughnut.

[general_re]

The courts have considered this argument, and rightly rejected it. By that logic, the police could torture a "confession" out of a perfectly innocent person, and have him spend the rest of his life in jail for a crime he did not commit - even if the antics of the police were to come to light later on. After all, releasing that person would be "punishing society" for the bad acts of the police, wouldn't it?

In the absence of a free and fair judicial process at all levels, you don't know that any particular person is a criminal, and hence cannot treat them as such. You cannot legitimately separate society from its agents in such a case.