diff --git a/src/main/java/org/json/XML.java b/src/main/java/org/json/XML.java
index 539285d..7e4b0bb 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/json/XML.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/json/XML.java
@@ -393,6 +393,11 @@ public class XML {
                             context.append(tagName, jsonObject);
                         } else if(context.isEmpty()) { //avoids resetting the array in case of an empty tag in the middle or end
                             context.put(tagName, new JSONArray());
+                            if (jsonObject.isEmpty()){
+                                context.append(tagName, "");
+                            }
+                        } else {
+                            context.append(tagName, "");
                         }
                     } else {
                         if (nilAttributeFound) {
@@ -455,6 +460,7 @@ public class XML {
                                         if(context.isEmpty()) {
                                             context.put(tagName, new JSONArray());
                                         }
+                                        context.append(tagName, "");
                                     } else if (jsonObject.length() == 1
                                             && jsonObject.opt(config.getcDataTagName()) != null) {
                                         context.append(tagName, jsonObject.opt(config.getcDataTagName()));
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/json/junit/XMLConfigurationTest.java b/src/test/java/org/json/junit/XMLConfigurationTest.java
index 8edbe79..e8ff3b6 100755
--- a/src/test/java/org/json/junit/XMLConfigurationTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/json/junit/XMLConfigurationTest.java
@@ -1092,7 +1092,7 @@ public class XMLConfigurationTest {
                 "<addresses></addresses>";
 
         String expectedStr = 
-                "{\"addresses\":[]}";
+                "{\"addresses\":[\"\"]}";
         
         Set<String> forceList = new HashSet<String>();
         forceList.add("addresses");
@@ -1130,7 +1130,7 @@ public class XMLConfigurationTest {
                 "<addresses />";
 
         String expectedStr = 
-                "{\"addresses\":[]}";
+                "{\"addresses\":[\"\"]}";
         
         Set<String> forceList = new HashSet<String>();
         forceList.add("addresses");
@@ -1147,7 +1147,7 @@ public class XMLConfigurationTest {
     @Test
     public void testForceListWithLastElementAsEmptyTag(){
         final String originalXml = "<root><id>1</id><id/></root>";
-        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1]}}";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1,\"\"]}}";
 
         HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
         forceListCandidates.add("id");
@@ -1163,7 +1163,7 @@ public class XMLConfigurationTest {
     @Test
     public void testForceListWithFirstElementAsEmptyTag(){
         final String originalXml = "<root><id/><id>1</id></root>";
-        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1]}}";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[\"\",1]}}";
 
         HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
         forceListCandidates.add("id");
@@ -1179,7 +1179,7 @@ public class XMLConfigurationTest {
     @Test
     public void testForceListWithMiddleElementAsEmptyTag(){
         final String originalXml = "<root><id>1</id><id/><id>2</id></root>";
-        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1,2]}}";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1,\"\",2]}}";
 
         HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
         forceListCandidates.add("id");
@@ -1195,8 +1195,7 @@ public class XMLConfigurationTest {
     @Test
     public void testForceListWithLastElementAsEmpty(){
         final String originalXml = "<root><id>1</id><id></id></root>";
-        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1]}}";
-
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1,\"\"]}}";
         HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
         forceListCandidates.add("id");
         final JSONObject json = XML.toJSONObject(originalXml,
@@ -1210,7 +1209,7 @@ public class XMLConfigurationTest {
     @Test
     public void testForceListWithFirstElementAsEmpty(){
         final String originalXml = "<root><id></id><id>1</id></root>";
-        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1]}}";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[\"\",1]}}";
 
         HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
         forceListCandidates.add("id");
@@ -1225,7 +1224,7 @@ public class XMLConfigurationTest {
     @Test
     public void testForceListWithMiddleElementAsEmpty(){
         final String originalXml = "<root><id>1</id><id></id><id>2</id></root>";
-        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1,2]}}";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1,\"\",2]}}";
 
         HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
         forceListCandidates.add("id");
@@ -1240,7 +1239,7 @@ public class XMLConfigurationTest {
     @Test
     public void testForceListEmptyAndEmptyTagsMixed(){
         final String originalXml = "<root><id></id><id/><id>1</id><id/><id></id><id>2</id></root>";
-        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1,2]}}";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[\"\",\"\",1,\"\",\"\",2]}}";
 
         HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
         forceListCandidates.add("id");
@@ -1252,6 +1251,50 @@ public class XMLConfigurationTest {
         assertEquals(expectedJsonString, json.toString());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testForceListConsistencyWithDefault() {
+        final String originalXml = "<root><id>0</id><id>1</id><id/><id></id></root>";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[0,1,\"\",\"\"]}}";
+
+        // confirm expected result of default array-of-tags processing
+        JSONObject json = XML.toJSONObject(originalXml);
+        assertEquals(expectedJsonString, json.toString());
+
+        // confirm forceList array-of-tags processing is consistent with default processing
+        HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
+        forceListCandidates.add("id");
+        json = XML.toJSONObject(originalXml,
+                new XMLParserConfiguration()
+                        .withForceList(forceListCandidates));
+        assertEquals(expectedJsonString, json.toString());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testForceListInitializesAnArrayWithAnEmptyElement(){
+        final String originalXml = "<root><id></id></root>";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[\"\"]}}";
+
+        HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
+        forceListCandidates.add("id");
+        JSONObject json = XML.toJSONObject(originalXml,
+                new XMLParserConfiguration()
+                        .withForceList(forceListCandidates));
+        assertEquals(expectedJsonString, json.toString());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testForceListInitializesAnArrayWithAnEmptyTag(){
+        final String originalXml = "<root><id/></root>";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[\"\"]}}";
+
+        HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
+        forceListCandidates.add("id");
+        JSONObject json = XML.toJSONObject(originalXml,
+                new XMLParserConfiguration()
+                        .withForceList(forceListCandidates));
+        assertEquals(expectedJsonString, json.toString());
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testMaxNestingDepthIsSet() {
         XMLParserConfiguration xmlParserConfiguration = XMLParserConfiguration.ORIGINAL;