Camden, New Jersey, has seen a dramatic drop in homicides over the past 15 years. peeterv/iStock via Getty Images Plus In 2025, Camden, New Jersey – a city of about 72,000 residents that sits across the Delaware River from Philadelphia – experienced its first homicide-free summer in nearly 50 years. The city ended the year with 12 homicides – a stark drop from 2012 when it recorded 67, a per capita rate 18 times the national average at the time. I’m a professor of criminal justice who wrote a b