diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ba564ee..db9fde9 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 /coverage/
 /doc/
 /pkg/
+/spec/log/
+/spec/test_db
 /spec/reports/
 /tmp/
 *.bundle
diff --git a/lib/jsonapi/utils.rb b/lib/jsonapi/utils.rb
index 7cf640a..81ee2a0 100644
--- a/lib/jsonapi/utils.rb
+++ b/lib/jsonapi/utils.rb
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 require 'jsonapi/utils/version'
+require 'jsonapi/utils/exceptions'
 
 module JSONAPI
   module Utils
@@ -10,60 +11,54 @@ module Utils
 
     def jsonapi_render(options)
       if options.has_key?(:json)
-        response = build_response(options)
-        render json: response[:body], status: options[:status] || response[:status] || :ok
+        response = jsonapi_serialize(options[:json], options[:options] || {})
+        render json: response, status: options[:status] || :ok
       end
     end
 
+    def jsonapi_errors(exception)
+      JSONAPI::ErrorsOperationResult.new(exception.errors[0].code, exception.errors).as_json
+    end
+
+    def jsonapi_render_internal_server_error
+      errors = ::JSONAPI::Utils::Exceptions::InternalServerError.new
+      render json: jsonapi_errors(errors), status: 500
+    end
+
+    def jsonapi_render_bad_request
+      errors = ::JSONAPI::Utils::Exceptions::BadRequest.new
+      render json: jsonapi_errors(errors), status: 400
+    end
+
     def jsonapi_render_not_found
-      jsonapi_render json: nil
+      id = extract_ids(@request.params)
+      exception = JSONAPI::Exceptions::RecordNotFound.new(id)
+      render json: jsonapi_errors(exception), status: 404
     end
 
     def jsonapi_render_not_found_with_null
-      jsonapi_render json: nil, options: { allow_null: true }
+      render json: { data: nil }, status: 200
     end
 
     def jsonapi_serialize(records, options = {})
-      return build_nil if records.nil? && options[:allow_null]
       results = JSONAPI::OperationResults.new
 
-      if records.nil?
-        id = extract_ids(@request.params)
-        record_not_found = JSONAPI::Exceptions::RecordNotFound.new(id)
-        results.add_result(JSONAPI::ErrorsOperationResult.new(record_not_found.errors[0].code, record_not_found.errors))
+      fix_request_options(params, records)
+
+      if records.respond_to?(:to_ary)
+        records = fix_when_hash(records, options) if needs_to_be_fixed?(records)
+        @resources = build_collection(records, options)
+        results.add_result(JSONAPI::ResourcesOperationResult.new(:ok, @resources, result_options(options)))
       else
-        fix_request_options(params, records)
-
-        if records.respond_to?(:to_ary)
-          records = fix_when_hash(records, options) if needs_to_be_fixed?(records)
-          @resources = build_collection(records, options)
-          results.add_result(JSONAPI::ResourcesOperationResult.new(:ok, @resources, result_options(options)))
-        else
-          @resource = turn_into_resource(records, options)
-          results.add_result(JSONAPI::ResourceOperationResult.new(:ok, @resource))
-        end
+        @resource = turn_into_resource(records, options)
+        results.add_result(JSONAPI::ResourceOperationResult.new(:ok, @resource))
       end
 
       create_response_document(results).contents
     end
 
-    def jsonapi_error(exception)
-      JSONAPI::ErrorsOperationResult.new(exception.errors[0].code, exception.errors).as_json
-    end
-
     private
 
-    def build_response(options)
-      {
-        body: jsonapi_serialize(options[:json], options[:options] || {}),
-        status: options[:json].nil? && !options[:allow_null] ? :not_found : :ok
-      }
-    end
-
-    def build_nil
-      { data: nil }
-    end
-
     def extract_ids(hash)
       ids = hash.keys.select { |e| e =~ /id$/i }.map { |e| hash[e] }
       ids.first rescue '(id not identified)'
diff --git a/lib/jsonapi/utils/exceptions.rb b/lib/jsonapi/utils/exceptions.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5edd7ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/jsonapi/utils/exceptions.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+require 'jsonapi/utils/version'
+
+module JSONAPI
+  module Utils
+    module Exceptions
+      class BadRequest < ::JSONAPI::Exceptions::Error
+        def code; 400 end
+
+        def errors
+          [JSONAPI::Error.new(code: 400,
+                              status: :bad_request,
+                              title: 'Bad Request',
+                              detail: 'This request is not supported.')]
+        end
+      end
+
+      class NotFoundError < ::JSONAPI::Exceptions::Error
+        def code; 404 end
+
+        def errors
+          [JSONAPI::Error.new(code: 404,
+                              status: :not_found,
+                              title: 'Not Found',
+                              detail: 'The requested resource was not found.')]
+        end
+      end
+
+      class InternalServerError < ::JSONAPI::Exceptions::Error
+        def code; 500 end
+
+        def errors
+          [JSONAPI::Error.new(code: 500,
+                              status: :internal_server_error,
+                              title: 'Internal Server Error',
+                              detail: 'An internal error ocurred while processing the request.')]
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/jsonapi/utils/version.rb b/lib/jsonapi/utils/version.rb
index e97839b..b2f499a 100644
--- a/lib/jsonapi/utils/version.rb
+++ b/lib/jsonapi/utils/version.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 module JSONAPI
   module Utils
-    VERSION = '0.2.2'
+    VERSION = '0.3.0'
   end
 end