Could the Java Updater (com.oracle.java.Java-Updater) be the source of all my kernel panics? In the past few months I've been getting more kernel panics than usual. This is on my late 2012 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 Mac Mini, running OS X Yosemite (OS X 10.2.2) with 16 GB of RAM. 

Looking at the console logs following the last panic, I can see that immediately before the crash, com.oracle.java.Java-Updater had been spamming my log. Here's a sample: 

3/20/15 11:58:45.317 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.oracle.java.Java-Updater[77795]) Could not find and/or execute program specified by service: 2: No such file or directory: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Java Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Java Updater
3/20/15 11:58:45.317 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.oracle.java.Java-Updater[77795]) Service setup event to handle failure and will not launch until it fires.
3/20/15 11:58:45.321 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.oracle.java.Java-Updater[77796]) Could not find and/or execute program specified by service: 2: No such file or directory: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Resources/Java Updater.app/Contents/MacOS/Java Updater
3/20/15 11:58:45.321 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.oracle.java.Java-Updater[77796]) Service setup event to handle failure and will not launch until it fires.
# CRASH HAPPENS HERE!!!
3/20/15 11:58:46.037 PM sample[77799]: assertion failed: 14C109: libxpc.dylib + 75491 [876216DC-D5D3-381E-8AF9-49AE464E5107]: 0x8d
3/20/15 11:58:46.037 PM sample[77799]: assertion failed: 14C109: libxpc.dylib + 34510 [876216DC-D5D3-381E-8AF9-49AE464E5107]: 0x8d
3/20/15 11:58:46.065 PM sample[77799]: assertion failed: 14C109: libxpc.dylib + 34510 [876216DC-D5D3-381E-8AF9-49AE464E5107]: 0x8d
3/20/15 11:58:47.076 PM sample[77799]: assertion failed: 14C109: libxpc.dylib + 34510 [876216DC-D5D3-381E-8AF9-49AE464E5107]: 0x8d
3/20/15 11:59:17.000 PM bootlog[0]: BOOT_TIME 1426910357 0
3/21/15 12:00:33.000 AM syslogd[17]: Configuration Notice: ASL Module "com.apple.AccountPolicyHelper" claims selected messages. Those messages may not appear in standard system log files or in the ASL database.


From what it looks like, com.oracle.java.Java-Updater had sent around 77,000 message like this before crapping out. 

I'm out of ideas — both regarding whether Java is actually responsible, and if so what to do. I need Java for a few programs I run, so deleting it isn't an option, unfortunately.
These message aren't being produced by Java. Launchd is part of OS X that manages scheduled jobs, amongst other things. The messages you are seeing here are launchd trying (unsuccessfully) to launch the Java Updater. It appears that the Java Updater is either partially or completely missing from your machine.

If you check the folder /Library/LaunchAgents/ on your Mac you should find a file called com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist. This file instructs launchd to run Java Updater once a week at a specific time.

If you need Java I would recommend uninstalling Java and then installing Java again from scratch. If you are using the Java Development Kit rather than the Java Runtime you can find uninstall instructions here and the install here.

Having said all this, I wouldn't expect this to cause kernel panics. This is simply a piece of software being repeatedly called to run and repeatedly failing. As klanomath mentioned you might want to check the kernel panic logs. You can find them in /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports. They'll be called something like Kernel_DATE-TIME_COMPUTERNAME.panic.