diff --git a/java/RocksDBSample.java b/java/RocksDBSample.java
index b574c23e5146182fb241e9df9ca46cbd7f2dfe8a..3c1c1cc83ab40d3582699a1a51062c2bcc0a736f 100644
--- a/java/RocksDBSample.java
+++ b/java/RocksDBSample.java
@@ -21,9 +21,10 @@ public class RocksDBSample {
     String db_path = args[0];
 
     System.out.println("RocksDBSample");
+    RocksDB db = null;
 
     try {
-      RocksDB db = RocksDB.open(db_path);
+      db = RocksDB.open(db_path);
       db.put("hello".getBytes(), "world".getBytes());
       byte[] value = db.get("hello".getBytes());
       System.out.format("Get('hello') = %s\n",
@@ -67,13 +68,11 @@ public class RocksDBSample {
       assert(len == RocksDB.NOT_FOUND);
       len = db.get(testKey, enoughArray);
       assert(len == testValue.length);
-      try {
-        db.close();
-      } catch (IOException e) {
-        System.err.println(e);
-      }
     } catch (RocksDBException e) {
       System.err.println(e);
     }
+    if (db != null) {
+      db.close();
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/java/org/rocksdb/RocksDB.java b/java/org/rocksdb/RocksDB.java
index 7e96eff283b55279861b4836b1df878241153074..7b5f80beba0b89416550807825991cf6cb783ebc 100644
--- a/java/org/rocksdb/RocksDB.java
+++ b/java/org/rocksdb/RocksDB.java
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
  * All methods of this class could potentially throw RocksDBException, which
  * indicates sth wrong at the rocksdb library side and the call failed.
  */
-public class RocksDB implements Closeable {
+public class RocksDB {
   public static final int NOT_FOUND = -1;
   /**
    * The factory constructor of RocksDB that opens a RocksDB instance given
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ public class RocksDB implements Closeable {
     return db;
   }
 
-  @Override public void close() throws IOException {
-    if (nativeHandle != 0) {
+  public synchronized void close() {
+    if (nativeHandle_ != 0) {
       close0();
     }
   }
@@ -80,11 +80,15 @@ public class RocksDB implements Closeable {
     return get(key, key.length);
   }
 
+  @Override protected void finalize() {
+    close();
+  }
+
   /**
    * Private constructor.
    */
   private RocksDB() {
-    nativeHandle = -1;
+    nativeHandle_ = 0;
   }
 
   // native methods
@@ -99,5 +103,5 @@ public class RocksDB implements Closeable {
       byte[] key, int keyLen) throws RocksDBException;
   private native void close0();
 
-  private long nativeHandle;
+  private long nativeHandle_;
 }
diff --git a/java/rocksjni/portal.h b/java/rocksjni/portal.h
index d51ea2059cc900cc4be18fd570cc1d83d8c06675..d277460c5f1eb377b88ecab218efc06c453a15e4 100644
--- a/java/rocksjni/portal.h
+++ b/java/rocksjni/portal.h
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ class RocksDBJni {
   // that stores the pointer to rocksdb::DB.
   static jfieldID getHandleFieldID(JNIEnv* env) {
     static jfieldID fid = env->GetFieldID(
-        getJClass(env), "nativeHandle", "J");
+        getJClass(env), "nativeHandle_", "J");
     assert(fid != nullptr);
     return fid;
   }
diff --git a/java/rocksjni/rocksjni.cc b/java/rocksjni/rocksjni.cc
index 3ae53834eeef7601f359f059a4d4d3de729600f7..d43fa5719a02514b29b3294bbce78a0691251030 100644
--- a/java/rocksjni/rocksjni.cc
+++ b/java/rocksjni/rocksjni.cc
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ jint Java_org_rocksdb_RocksDB_get___3BI_3BI(
     env->ReleaseByteArrayElements(jvalue, value, JNI_ABORT);
     return kNotFound;
   } else if (!s.ok()) {
+    env->ReleaseByteArrayElements(jvalue, value, JNI_ABORT);
     // Here since we are throwing a Java exception from c++ side.
     // As a result, c++ does not know calling this function will in fact
     // throwing an exception.  As a result, the execution flow will
@@ -164,10 +165,7 @@ jint Java_org_rocksdb_RocksDB_get___3BI_3BI(
 
   memcpy(value, cvalue.c_str(), length);
   env->ReleaseByteArrayElements(jvalue, value, JNI_COMMIT);
-  if (cvalue_len > length) {
-    return static_cast<jint>(cvalue_len);
-  }
-  return length;
+  return static_cast<jint>(cvalue_len);
 }
 
 /*