diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5576b8d..3a39f8a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -348,7 +348,8 @@ accept proxy tickets. Supports all configurations that are available for `Cas20P
 
 #### org.jasig.cas.client.validation.json.Cas30JsonProxyReceivingTicketValidationFilter
 Indentical to `Cas30ProxyReceivingTicketValidationFilter`, yet the filter is able to accept validation responses from CAS
-that are formatted as JSON per guidelines laid out by the CAS protocol. See the [protocol documentation](https://apereo.github.io/cas/)
+that are formatted as JSON per guidelines laid out by the CAS protocol. 
+See the [protocol documentation](https://apereo.github.io/cas/5.1.x/protocol/CAS-Protocol-Specification.html)
 for more info.
 
 ##### Proxy Authentication vs. Distributed Caching
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/json/Cas30JsonServiceTicketValidator.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/json/Cas30JsonServiceTicketValidator.java
index 6b4418d..9fee4b3 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/json/Cas30JsonServiceTicketValidator.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/json/Cas30JsonServiceTicketValidator.java
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 package org.jasig.cas.client.validation.json;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.validation.Assertion;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.validation.Cas30ServiceTicketValidator;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.validation.TicketValidationException;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -27,9 +29,11 @@ public class Cas30JsonServiceTicketValidator extends Cas30ServiceTicketValidator
         try {
             final TicketValidationJsonResponse json = new JsonValidationResponseParser().parse(response);
             return json.getAssertion(getProxyGrantingTicketStorage(), getProxyRetriever());
-        } catch (final Exception e) {
-            logger.warn("Unable parse the JSON response", e);
+        } catch (final JsonProcessingException e) {
+            logger.warn("Unable parse the JSON response. Falling back to XML", e);
             return super.parseResponseFromServer(response);
+        } catch (final IOException e) {
+            throw new TicketValidationException(e.getMessage(), e);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/json/JsonValidationResponseParser.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/json/JsonValidationResponseParser.java
index 5dd3abd..c4b58fa 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/json/JsonValidationResponseParser.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/json/JsonValidationResponseParser.java
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.util.CommonUtils;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.validation.TicketValidationException;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+
 /**
  * This is {@link JsonValidationResponseParser}.
  *
@@ -16,35 +18,31 @@ final class JsonValidationResponseParser {
         this.objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
         this.objectMapper.findAndRegisterModules();
     }
-    
-    public TicketValidationJsonResponse parse(final String response) throws TicketValidationException {
-        try {
-            if (CommonUtils.isBlank(response)) {
-                throw new TicketValidationException("Invalid JSON response; The response is empty");
-            }
 
-            final TicketValidationJsonResponse json = this.objectMapper.readValue(response, TicketValidationJsonResponse.class);
-
-            final TicketValidationJsonResponse.CasServiceResponseAuthentication serviceResponse = json.getServiceResponse();
-            if (serviceResponse.getAuthenticationFailure() != null
-                    && serviceResponse.getAuthenticationSuccess() != null) {
-                throw new TicketValidationException("Invalid JSON response; It indicates both a success "
-                        + "and a failure event, which is indicative of a server error. The actual response is " + response);
-            }
-
-            if (serviceResponse.getAuthenticationFailure() != null) {
-                final String error = json.getServiceResponse().getAuthenticationFailure().getCode()
-                        + " - " + serviceResponse.getAuthenticationFailure().getDescription();
-                throw new TicketValidationException(error);
-            }
-
-            final String principal = json.getServiceResponse().getAuthenticationSuccess().getUser();
-            if (CommonUtils.isEmpty(principal)) {
-                throw new TicketValidationException("No principal was found in the response from the CAS server.");
-            }
-            return json;
-        } catch (final Exception e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException("Unable to parse JSON validation response", e);
+    public TicketValidationJsonResponse parse(final String response) throws TicketValidationException, IOException {
+        if (CommonUtils.isBlank(response)) {
+            throw new TicketValidationException("Invalid JSON response; The response is empty");
         }
+
+        final TicketValidationJsonResponse json = this.objectMapper.readValue(response, TicketValidationJsonResponse.class);
+
+        final TicketValidationJsonResponse.CasServiceResponseAuthentication serviceResponse = json.getServiceResponse();
+        if (serviceResponse.getAuthenticationFailure() != null
+                && serviceResponse.getAuthenticationSuccess() != null) {
+            throw new TicketValidationException("Invalid JSON response; It indicates both a success "
+                    + "and a failure event, which is indicative of a server error. The actual response is " + response);
+        }
+
+        if (serviceResponse.getAuthenticationFailure() != null) {
+            final String error = json.getServiceResponse().getAuthenticationFailure().getCode()
+                    + " - " + serviceResponse.getAuthenticationFailure().getDescription();
+            throw new TicketValidationException(error);
+        }
+
+        final String principal = json.getServiceResponse().getAuthenticationSuccess().getUser();
+        if (CommonUtils.isEmpty(principal)) {
+            throw new TicketValidationException("No principal was found in the response from the CAS server.");
+        }
+        return json;
     }
 }
diff --git a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/json/TicketValidationJsonResponse.java b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/json/TicketValidationJsonResponse.java
index c880667..84db6e2 100644
--- a/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/json/TicketValidationJsonResponse.java
+++ b/cas-client-core/src/main/java/org/jasig/cas/client/validation/json/TicketValidationJsonResponse.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package org.jasig.cas.client.validation.json;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonCreator;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.authentication.AttributePrincipal;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.authentication.AttributePrincipalImpl;
 import org.jasig.cas.client.proxy.ProxyGrantingTicketStorage;
@@ -17,9 +19,11 @@ import java.util.Map;
  * @author Misagh Moayyed
  */
 final class TicketValidationJsonResponse {
-    private CasServiceResponseAuthentication serviceResponse;
+    private final CasServiceResponseAuthentication serviceResponse;
 
-    public void setServiceResponse(final CasServiceResponseAuthentication serviceResponse) {
+    @JsonCreator
+    public TicketValidationJsonResponse(@JsonProperty("serviceResponse")
+                                        final CasServiceResponseAuthentication serviceResponse) {
         this.serviceResponse = serviceResponse;
     }
 
@@ -51,24 +55,25 @@ final class TicketValidationJsonResponse {
     }
 
     static class CasServiceResponseAuthentication {
-        private CasServiceResponseAuthenticationFailure authenticationFailure;
-        private CasServiceResponseAuthenticationSuccess authenticationSuccess;
+        private final CasServiceResponseAuthenticationFailure authenticationFailure;
+        private final CasServiceResponseAuthenticationSuccess authenticationSuccess;
+
+        @JsonCreator
+        public CasServiceResponseAuthentication(@JsonProperty("authenticationFailure")
+                                                final CasServiceResponseAuthenticationFailure authenticationFailure,
+                                                @JsonProperty("authenticationSuccess")
+                                                final CasServiceResponseAuthenticationSuccess authenticationSuccess) {
+            this.authenticationFailure = authenticationFailure;
+            this.authenticationSuccess = authenticationSuccess;
+        }
 
         public CasServiceResponseAuthenticationFailure getAuthenticationFailure() {
             return this.authenticationFailure;
         }
 
-        public void setAuthenticationFailure(final CasServiceResponseAuthenticationFailure authenticationFailure) {
-            this.authenticationFailure = authenticationFailure;
-        }
-
         public CasServiceResponseAuthenticationSuccess getAuthenticationSuccess() {
             return this.authenticationSuccess;
         }
-
-        public void setAuthenticationSuccess(final CasServiceResponseAuthenticationSuccess authenticationSuccess) {
-            this.authenticationSuccess = authenticationSuccess;
-        }
     }
 
     static class CasServiceResponseAuthenticationSuccess {