diff --git a/modules/json/src/main/clojure/clojure/contrib/json.clj b/modules/json/src/main/clojure/clojure/contrib/json.clj
index 0a07b59c..a69195ea 100644
--- a/modules/json/src/main/clojure/clojure/contrib/json.clj
+++ b/modules/json/src/main/clojure/clojure/contrib/json.clj
@@ -238,9 +238,7 @@
       (let [[k v] (first x)]
         (when (nil? k)
           (throw (Exception. "JSON object keys cannot be nil/null")))
-        (.print out \")
-        (.print out (as-str k))
-        (.print out \")
+	(write-json-string (as-str k) out)
         (.print out \:)
         (write-json v out))
       (let [nxt (next x)]
diff --git a/modules/json/src/test/clojure/clojure/contrib/test_json.clj b/modules/json/src/test/clojure/clojure/contrib/test_json.clj
index c38dbc6a..a4290e5c 100644
--- a/modules/json/src/test/clojure/clojure/contrib/test_json.clj
+++ b/modules/json/src/test/clojure/clojure/contrib/test_json.clj
@@ -185,6 +185,9 @@
 (deftest can-accept-eof
   (is (= ::eof (read-json "" true false ::eof))))
 
+(deftest characters-in-map-keys-are-escaped
+  (is (= (json-str {"\"" 42}) "{\"\\\"\":42}")))
+
 ;;; Pretty-printer
 
 (deftest pretty-printing