diff --git a/src/main/java/org/json/XML.java b/src/main/java/org/json/XML.java
index e14bb34e9..7e4b0bb0c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/json/XML.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/json/XML.java
@@ -391,8 +391,13 @@ private static boolean parse(XMLTokener x, JSONObject context, String name, XMLP
                             context.append(tagName, JSONObject.NULL);
                         } else if (jsonObject.length() > 0) {
                             context.append(tagName, jsonObject);
-                        } else {
+                        } 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) {
@@ -451,7 +456,11 @@ private static boolean parse(XMLTokener x, JSONObject context, String name, XMLP
                                 if (config.getForceList().contains(tagName)) {
                                     // Force the value to be an array
                                     if (jsonObject.length() == 0) {
-                                        context.put(tagName, new JSONArray());
+                                        //avoids resetting the array in case of an empty element in the middle or end
+                                        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 ca1980c8a..e8ff3b60c 100755
--- a/src/test/java/org/json/junit/XMLConfigurationTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/json/junit/XMLConfigurationTest.java
@@ -1092,7 +1092,7 @@ public void testEmptyForceList() {
                 "<addresses></addresses>";
 
         String expectedStr = 
-                "{\"addresses\":[]}";
+                "{\"addresses\":[\"\"]}";
         
         Set<String> forceList = new HashSet<String>();
         forceList.add("addresses");
@@ -1130,7 +1130,7 @@ public void testEmptyTagForceList() {
                 "<addresses />";
 
         String expectedStr = 
-                "{\"addresses\":[]}";
+                "{\"addresses\":[\"\"]}";
         
         Set<String> forceList = new HashSet<String>();
         forceList.add("addresses");
@@ -1144,6 +1144,157 @@ public void testEmptyTagForceList() {
         Util.compareActualVsExpectedJsonObjects(jsonObject, expetedJsonObject);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testForceListWithLastElementAsEmptyTag(){
+        final String originalXml = "<root><id>1</id><id/></root>";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1,\"\"]}}";
+
+        HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
+        forceListCandidates.add("id");
+        final JSONObject json = XML.toJSONObject(originalXml,
+                new XMLParserConfiguration()
+                        .withKeepStrings(false)
+                        .withcDataTagName("content")
+                        .withForceList(forceListCandidates)
+                        .withConvertNilAttributeToNull(true));
+        assertEquals(expectedJsonString, json.toString());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testForceListWithFirstElementAsEmptyTag(){
+        final String originalXml = "<root><id/><id>1</id></root>";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[\"\",1]}}";
+
+        HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
+        forceListCandidates.add("id");
+        final JSONObject json = XML.toJSONObject(originalXml,
+                new XMLParserConfiguration()
+                        .withKeepStrings(false)
+                        .withcDataTagName("content")
+                        .withForceList(forceListCandidates)
+                        .withConvertNilAttributeToNull(true));
+        assertEquals(expectedJsonString, json.toString());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testForceListWithMiddleElementAsEmptyTag(){
+        final String originalXml = "<root><id>1</id><id/><id>2</id></root>";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1,\"\",2]}}";
+
+        HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
+        forceListCandidates.add("id");
+        final JSONObject json = XML.toJSONObject(originalXml,
+                new XMLParserConfiguration()
+                        .withKeepStrings(false)
+                        .withcDataTagName("content")
+                        .withForceList(forceListCandidates)
+                        .withConvertNilAttributeToNull(true));
+        assertEquals(expectedJsonString, json.toString());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testForceListWithLastElementAsEmpty(){
+        final String originalXml = "<root><id>1</id><id></id></root>";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1,\"\"]}}";
+        HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
+        forceListCandidates.add("id");
+        final JSONObject json = XML.toJSONObject(originalXml,
+                new XMLParserConfiguration()
+                        .withKeepStrings(false)
+                        .withForceList(forceListCandidates)
+                        .withConvertNilAttributeToNull(true));
+        assertEquals(expectedJsonString, json.toString());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testForceListWithFirstElementAsEmpty(){
+        final String originalXml = "<root><id></id><id>1</id></root>";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[\"\",1]}}";
+
+        HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
+        forceListCandidates.add("id");
+        final JSONObject json = XML.toJSONObject(originalXml,
+                new XMLParserConfiguration()
+                        .withKeepStrings(false)
+                        .withForceList(forceListCandidates)
+                        .withConvertNilAttributeToNull(true));
+        assertEquals(expectedJsonString, json.toString());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testForceListWithMiddleElementAsEmpty(){
+        final String originalXml = "<root><id>1</id><id></id><id>2</id></root>";
+        final String expectedJsonString = "{\"root\":{\"id\":[1,\"\",2]}}";
+
+        HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
+        forceListCandidates.add("id");
+        final JSONObject json = XML.toJSONObject(originalXml,
+                new XMLParserConfiguration()
+                        .withKeepStrings(false)
+                        .withForceList(forceListCandidates)
+                        .withConvertNilAttributeToNull(true));
+        assertEquals(expectedJsonString, json.toString());
+    }
+
+    @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]}}";
+
+        HashSet<String> forceListCandidates = new HashSet<>();
+        forceListCandidates.add("id");
+        final JSONObject json = XML.toJSONObject(originalXml,
+                new XMLParserConfiguration()
+                        .withKeepStrings(false)
+                        .withForceList(forceListCandidates)
+                        .withConvertNilAttributeToNull(true));
+        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;