diff -urN Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83.original/lib/Catalyst/Action/Deserialize/JSON.pm Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83/lib/Catalyst/Action/Deserialize/JSON.pm
--- Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83.original/lib/Catalyst/Action/Deserialize/JSON.pm	2010-02-08 22:23:31.000000000 +0000
+++ Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83/lib/Catalyst/Action/Deserialize/JSON.pm	2010-08-22 13:06:39.769253581 +0000
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 use namespace::autoclean;
 
 extends 'Catalyst::Action';
-use JSON qw( decode_json );
+use JSON;
 
 our $VERSION = '0.83';
 $VERSION = eval $VERSION;
@@ -23,7 +23,13 @@
     }
 
     if ( $rbody ) {
-        my $rdata = eval { decode_json( $rbody ) };
+        my $json = JSON->new->utf8;
+        if (my $options = $controller->{json_options}) {
+            foreach my $opt (keys %$options) {
+                $json->$opt( $options->{$opt} );
+            }
+        }
+        my $rdata = eval { $json->decode( $rbody ) };
         if ($@) {
             return $@;
         }
diff -urN Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83.original/lib/Catalyst/Controller/REST.pm Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83/lib/Catalyst/Controller/REST.pm
--- Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83.original/lib/Catalyst/Controller/REST.pm	2010-02-08 22:23:44.000000000 +0000
+++ Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83/lib/Catalyst/Controller/REST.pm	2010-08-22 13:08:31.160215081 +0000
@@ -146,6 +146,12 @@
 L<JSON::XS> installed.  The C<text/x-json> content type is supported but is
 deprecated and you will receive warnings in your log.
 
+You can also add a hash in your controller config to pass options to the json object.
+For instance, to relax permissions when deserializing input, add:
+  __PACKAGE__->config(
+    json_options => { relaxed => 1 }
+  )
+
 =item * C<text/javascript> => C<JSONP>
 
 If a callback=? parameter is passed, this returns javascript in the form of: $callback($serializedJSON);
diff -urN Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83.original/t/json.t Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83/t/json.t
--- Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83.original/t/json.t	2009-10-26 23:43:22.000000000 +0000
+++ Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83/t/json.t	2010-08-22 13:34:13.060577831 +0000
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 eval 'use JSON 2.12';
 plan skip_all => 'Install JSON 2.12 or later to run this test' if ($@);
 
-plan tests => 9;
+plan tests => 11;
 
 use_ok 'Catalyst::Test', 'Test::Serialize';
 
@@ -36,4 +36,14 @@
     is_deeply($mres_post->content, $exp, "POST data matches");
 }
 
+{
+    my $t = Test::Rest->new('content_type' => 'application/json');
+    my $json_data = '{ "sushi":"is good for monkey", }';
+    my $mres_post = request($t->post(url => '/monkey_put', data => $json_data));
+    ok( ! $mres_post->is_success, "Got expected failed status due to invalid JSON" );
+
+    my $relaxed_post = request( $t->post(url => "/monkey_json_put", data => $json_data));
+    ok( $relaxed_post->is_success, "Got success due to setting relaxed JSON input" );
+}
+
 1;
diff -urN Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83.original/t/lib/Test/Serialize/Controller/JSON.pm Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83/t/lib/Test/Serialize/Controller/JSON.pm
--- Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83.original/t/lib/Test/Serialize/Controller/JSON.pm	1970-01-01 00:00:00.000000000 +0000
+++ Catalyst-Action-REST-0.83/t/lib/Test/Serialize/Controller/JSON.pm	2010-08-22 13:32:04.900568331 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+package Test::Serialize::Controller::JSON;
+
+use namespace::autoclean;
+use Moose;
+
+BEGIN { extends qw/Catalyst::Controller::REST/ };
+
+__PACKAGE__->config(
+    'stash_key' => 'rest',
+    'json_options' => {
+        relaxed => 1,
+    },
+    'map'       => {
+        'text/x-json'        => 'JSON',
+    },
+);
+
+sub monkey_json_put : Path("/monkey_json_put") : ActionClass('Deserialize') {
+    my ( $self, $c ) = @_;
+    if ( ref($c->req->data) eq "HASH" ) {
+        my $out = ($c->req->data->{'sushi'}||'') . ($c->req->data->{'chicken'}||'');
+        utf8::encode($out);
+        $c->res->output( $out );
+    } else {
+        $c->res->output(1);
+    }
+}
+
+1;