Lay perceptions of crime causation impact legal decision-making and public policy opinions, which in turn have important consequences for defendant outcomes and policy changes. However, the current measurements of these perceptions, developed around an attribution theory framework, might not be an appropriate method for measuring causal perceptions of crime. This review critically assesses the methods and findings of the literature investigating attributions of crime, with a specific focus on the locus of causality dimension. Several issues and inconsistencies emerged, specifically with the one- and two-dimensional frameworks of attributions. These issues include low internal consistency, a lack of separation between measurement of internal and external attributions, and a lack of consideration of perceiver phenomenology. Thus, a novel four-level social-ecological framework of crime locus of causality was proposed with an emphasis on causal interactions and phenomenology. Future research should develop and implement empirical measurements based on this new framework to obtain an improved understanding of lay perceptions of crime. Implications for criminological theory and policymakers are discussed.