diff --git a/Data/ASN1/BER.hs b/Data/ASN1/BER.hs
--- a/Data/ASN1/BER.hs
+++ b/Data/ASN1/BER.hs
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@
 
 {- helper to transform a Someexception from the enumerator to an ASN1Err if possible -}
 wrapASN1Err :: Either SomeException a -> Either ASN1Err a
-wrapASN1Err (Left err) = Left (maybe (ASN1ParsingFail "unknown") id $ fromException err)
+wrapASN1Err (Left err) = Left (maybe (ASN1ParsingFail $ show err) id $ fromException err)
 wrapASN1Err (Right x)  = Right x
 
 {-| decode a list of raw ASN1Events into a stream of ASN1 types -}
diff --git a/Data/ASN1/DER.hs b/Data/ASN1/DER.hs
--- a/Data/ASN1/DER.hs
+++ b/Data/ASN1/DER.hs
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@
 
 {- helper to transform a Someexception from the enumerator to an ASN1Err if possible -}
 wrapASN1Err :: Either SomeException a -> Either ASN1Err a
-wrapASN1Err (Left err) = Left (maybe (ASN1ParsingFail "unknown") id $ fromException err)
+wrapASN1Err (Left err) = Left (maybe (ASN1ParsingFail $ show err) id $ fromException err)
 wrapASN1Err (Right x)  = Right x
 
 {-| decode a list of raw ASN1Events into a stream of ASN1 types -}
diff --git a/Data/ASN1/Prim.hs b/Data/ASN1/Prim.hs
--- a/Data/ASN1/Prim.hs
+++ b/Data/ASN1/Prim.hs
@@ -74,15 +74,18 @@
 	L.pack $ concatMap (\c -> let (d,m) = (fromEnum c) `divMod` 256 in [fromIntegral m,fromIntegral d] ) $ T.unpack t
 
 decodeUCS2BE :: L.ByteString -> Text
-decodeUCS2BE l = T.pack $ loop l
+decodeUCS2BE lbs = T.pack $ loop lbs
 	where
-		loop x
-			| L.null x  = []
+		loop bs
+			| L.null bs = []
 			| otherwise = 
-				let (h, r) = L.splitAt 2 l in
-				case L.unpack h of
-					[a,b] -> (toEnum $ (fromIntegral a) + (fromIntegral b) * 256) : loop r
-					_     -> loop r
+				let (h, r) = L.splitAt 2 bs in
+				case L.length h of
+					2 -> (toEnum $ fromIntegral $ be16 h) : loop r
+					_ -> loop r
+		be16 :: L.ByteString -> Word16
+		be16 b = fromIntegral (L.index b 0) `shiftL` 8
+		       + fromIntegral (L.index b 1)
 	
 
 encodeHeader :: Bool -> ASN1Length -> ASN1 -> ASN1Header
diff --git a/asn1-data.cabal b/asn1-data.cabal
--- a/asn1-data.cabal
+++ b/asn1-data.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                asn1-data
-Version:             0.6.0
+Version:             0.6.1
 Description:
     ASN1 data reader and writer in raw form with supports for high level forms of ASN1 (BER, CER and DER).
     .