The most dangerous town in America: Inside Camden, New Jersey where 39 people have been murdered this year



13 homicides in July - the most deadly month since a shooting spree in 1949

Murder rate was ten times New York City in 2011 -- and on pace to be even higher this year



More than half of children live below the poverty line as city is ravaged by drugs

Police department forced to cut one third of officers in 2011 and arrests dropped to less than half of what they were in 2009




Camden, New Jersey, has long been one of the most dangerous places in America, but recent police cuts combined with the highest unemployment rate in New Jersey have made the city even deadlier.



This year there have been 39 murders in the city of 77,000 -- on pace to break the all-time record set in 1995.



In 2011, the murder rate was ten times than that of New York City and 30 percent higher than New Orleans, Louisiana, the most dangerous large city in the nation.



Squalor: The crumbling residential buildings of Camden have become a war zone of drug dealers and pimps

Streets of terror: A Camden police officer pats down a suspect. There were 13 homicides in the New Jersey city last month

Run down: Crack houses have sprung up amid the boarded-up factories and burned out houses

Camden was once a bustling industrial town but drugs and alcohol abuse now run rife in an area that is economically deprived. More than half of all children live below the poverty line.



The city finds itself in the midst of a drug war as unemployed young men with nothing to lose battle for territory across the city.

Large gang networks are competing with local drug deals and the results of always violent.

Last month, 27-year-old Robert Carstarphen was shot dead in an alley during a fight over drug dealing territory between members of the Bloods street gang. The following day, two more men were dead after a retaliation hit.



The deaths brought the total number of homicides for July to 13 - making the month the city's worst since September 1949 when mass murderer Howard Unruh left the same number dead in a shooting spree.

One resident said: 'We don't have any real policing in Camden. They're just out here to pick up the bodies'

Abject poverty: The unemployment rate in Camden skyrocketed from less than 9 percent to more than 20 percent during the recession. It has only fallen less than two percentage points doing the recovery



Abandoned: These homes are a health and safety risk, with many of them simply uninhabitable

Last year, there were 50 murders in Camden, eight short of the record of 58 homicides in 1995. Most of the murder victims this year were male, with the youngest a 16-year-old boy and the eldest a 42-year-old woman.

The murder rate has been spurred on by massive cuts to a police force that had already been dogged by corruption and too few resources.

Thanks to massive state budget cuts to poor cities like Camden, Newark and Trenton, the Camden Police Department was forced to fire 168 officers in 2011 -- more than one third of its police force.



'Many organizations had layoffs. In one day, we had a decimation,' Police Chief Scott Thomson told the Newark Star-Ledger .



Depressing: Camden in New Jersey is now a sad shadow of its former self

Neighbourhood: People are scarcely seen on the city's streets which have become the second most dangerous in the U.S.



Drop: The population has plummeted by more than 40 per cent from its 1950 level of 120,000

As a result, arrests fell to less than half what they were in 2009 -- when the city looked like it was bringing the crime epidemic under control.



According to the AroundPhilly blog on Yahoo, one resident said: 'We don't have any real policing in Camden. They're just out here to pick up the bodies.'

Camden was once a major hub of manufacturing, with large plants from General Electric and RCA employing tens of thousands of workers.

As those factories left, nothing replaced them and the city fell into ruin.



Devastated: Many houses have simply been left to rack and ruin

Former glories: Echoes of a previous time are evident everywhere you go in Camden



Filthy: The stench of sewage permeates the run-down streets

In the last decade, crack houses have sprung up amid the boarded-up factories and burned out houses. People live in fear of being robbed or shot as addicts roam the streets looking to fund their habit.



Most of the killings were gang members involved in drugs although there were innocent victims including a 39-year-old father of six who attempted to break up a fight.

In the 39 murder cases, charges had been filed in 17, according to police. There were 103 shootings in total from January to July this year.

Camden has long been the poorest city in New Jersey, but the recession has made things worse -- and the situation is not improving.



The unemployment rate was less than 9 percent in 2007. In may, it stood at 18 percent, leaving thousands of young men out of work and with few alternatives.



Members of the local clergy have been taking part in anti-violence walks on the streets to try to build relationships and ease tension among the disenfranchised and the vulnerable.



Young people were becoming swept up in the booming drug trade after being targeted by dealers as they face lighter sentences if caught.

Revered Heyward Wiggins III of Camden Bible Tabernacle told Philly.com : ' Right now, we are going to funerals of a lot of victims of the violence in the city, but we would love to bring about an atmosphere where we don't have to attend funerals.'

Deserted: Camden has no movie theatres and the only supermarket is located outside of the city, away from the crime-ridden streets

Discarded: Empty bottles sit as a shrine on the location where a citizen was murdered

Back in the day: Camden, New Jersey, was a hub of manufacturing in industry for many decades



Style: Heavyweight champion of the world Joe Walcott and his wife are snapped strolling down Camden's Main Street during one of Joe's leisure days in 1951