diff --git a/lib/verify-stream.js b/lib/verify-stream.js
index d9bfa2b..44ed594 100644
--- a/lib/verify-stream.js
+++ b/lib/verify-stream.js
@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@ function isObject(thing) {
   return Object.prototype.toString.call(thing) === '[object Object]';
 }
 
-function safeJsonParse(thing) {
+function safeJsonParse(thing, encoding) {
   if (isObject(thing))
     return thing;
-  try { return JSON.parse(thing); }
+  try { return JSON.parse(thing, encoding); }
   catch (e) { return undefined; }
 }
 
@@ -67,8 +67,10 @@ function jwsDecode(jwsSig, opts) {
     return null;
 
   var payload = payloadFromJWS(jwsSig);
-  if (header.typ === 'JWT' || opts.json)
-    payload = JSON.parse(payload, opts.encoding);
+  if (header.typ === 'JWT' || opts.json){
+    payload = safeJsonParse(payload, opts.encoding);
+    if (!payload) { return null; }
+  }
 
   return {
     header: header,
diff --git a/test/jws.test.js b/test/jws.test.js
index 063969b..4ff2f82 100644
--- a/test/jws.test.js
+++ b/test/jws.test.js
@@ -279,6 +279,7 @@ if (SUPPORTS_ENCRYPTED_KEYS) {
 test('jws.decode: not a jws signature', function (t) {
   t.same(jws.decode('some garbage string'), null);
   t.same(jws.decode('http://sub.domain.org'), null);
+  t.same(jws.decode('eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.e3.t-IDcSemACt8x4iTMCda8Yhe3iZaWbvV5XKSTbuAn0M'), null);
   t.end();
 });
 
@@ -295,10 +296,8 @@ test('jws.decode: with invalid json in body', function (t) {
   const header = Buffer('{"alg":"HS256","typ":"JWT"}').toString('base64');
   const payload = Buffer('sup').toString('base64');
   const sig = header + '.' + payload + '.';
-  var parts;
-  t.throws(function () {
-    parts = jws.decode(sig);
-  })
+  const parts = jws.decode(sig);
+  t.same(parts, null);
   t.end();
 });