diff --git a/libs/micropython/jwt.py b/libs/micropython/jwt.py
index a6a4851..7ec1172 100644
--- a/libs/micropython/jwt.py
+++ b/libs/micropython/jwt.py
@@ -1,13 +1,9 @@
 import binascii
 import hashlib
 import hmac
+import json
 from time import time
 
-try:
-    import orjson as json
-except ImportError:
-    import json
-
 def _to_b64url(data):
     return (
         binascii.b2a_base64(data)
diff --git a/src/microdot/microdot.py b/src/microdot/microdot.py
index 102b04f..ba2bae0 100644
--- a/src/microdot/microdot.py
+++ b/src/microdot/microdot.py
@@ -578,9 +578,9 @@ class Response:
         self.headers = NoCaseDict(headers or {})
         self.reason = reason
         if isinstance(body, (dict, list)):
-            self.body = json.dumps(body).encode()
+            body = json.dumps(body)
             self.headers['Content-Type'] = 'application/json; charset=UTF-8'
-        elif isinstance(body, str):
+        if isinstance(body, str):
             self.body = body.encode()
         else:
             # this applies to bytes, file-like objects or generators
diff --git a/src/microdot/sse.py b/src/microdot/sse.py
index fdfa73e..2c4ff08 100644
--- a/src/microdot/sse.py
+++ b/src/microdot/sse.py
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ class SSE:
                       given, it must be a string.
         """
         if isinstance(data, (dict, list)):
-            data = json.dumps(data).encode()
-        elif isinstance(data, str):
+            data = json.dumps(data)
+        if isinstance(data, str):
             data = data.encode()
         elif not isinstance(data, bytes):
             data = str(data).encode()
diff --git a/src/microdot/test_client.py b/src/microdot/test_client.py
index c08ae59..0f2d0fc 100644
--- a/src/microdot/test_client.py
+++ b/src/microdot/test_client.py
@@ -105,10 +105,10 @@ class TestClient:
         if body is None:
             body = b''
         elif isinstance(body, (dict, list)):
-            body = json.dumps(body).encode()
+            body = json.dumps(body)
             if 'Content-Type' not in headers:  # pragma: no cover
                 headers['Content-Type'] = 'application/json'
-        elif isinstance(body, str):
+        if isinstance(body, str):
             body = body.encode()
         if body and 'Content-Length' not in headers:
             headers['Content-Length'] = str(len(body))