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The correlation they saw was after controlling for potentially confounding variables, like income level, housing stock, density, and demographics, as explained in this article: https://caseytrees.org/2023/09/mythbusting-trees-and-crime/.

So of course it's not proof of causation, but reverse causation(nice neighborhoods lead to more trees planted) seems unlikely to explain the effect.

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Indeed. Islington in London was famous for having few trees and lots of crime. Now it’s a nice fancy area that still doesn’t have a lot of trees.

There is about white collar crime lurking here somewhere.

The crime is understood to be street crime. The bankers and lawyers would have to decide to insider-trade on the pavement outside the pub, for this crime to become street crime. Or, kick people because street crime is often crime of violence.

So, get that suit on, start dealing ahead of the market, and kick a beggar. THEN you can contribute to the statistics.

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