According the json spec (json.org), the keyword null and the String "null" are not equivalent. However, if I build a JSONArray from the string:
[null,"null",null,"null"]
I end up with a JSONArray with four nulls, not two nulls and two Strings with value "null".
Some test code:
StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
JSONBuilder jb = new JSONBuilder(sw);
// Build [null,"null",null,"null"]
jb.array().value(null).value("null").value(null).value("null").endArray();
JSONArray jo = JSONArray.fromObject(sw.toString());
assertEquals("[null,\"null\",null,\"null\"]", jo.toString());