In an unequal society the crime could just be in the areas of high poverty because the government chooses to avoid improving those areas. Off the top of my head that's just one way to interpret "Crime is a function of inequality."

Ok, but not all correlations are spurious. What makes that research spurious?

I can't read that paywalled article, but from the sounds of the abstract, no methodology is introduced to demonstrate causation. Any correlation that does not in turn show causation is spurious.

Got it, so you are just guessing.

Do you have more info? Would be great if you explain how they do demonstrate causality. Not really sure why it is on me to refute a paywalled article that has no indication of being relevant. Please note that the OC who posted the link to the study (and to whom I was responding) specifically said "correlated".