Oh, sure, it was misUSED, but that's really more of a recent thing, and more the result of sloppy writing than anything else (as Steph's 'death' was, in my opinion). I would direct you to the sequence in 'Knightfall' where Batman is fighting the Joker/Scarecrow teamup, having taken down dozens of other Arkham escapees in the days before. Exhausted almost to the point of collapse, it's looking like he'll have a tough time - both villains are fresh as daisies, and here comes the Scarecrow with a blast of fear-gas to the face. And he sees his greatest fear - an endless replay of Jason's death, happening over and over again, and he can't stop it, can't do anything - and you'd think that'd be the end for him, now wouldn't you? But no - he gets MAD. He channels his fear into anger, lays out the Scarecrow with one blow, then lunges at the Joker and lifts him by the scruff of the neck. "Jason... Todd," he snarls. "Jason Todd!" he growls, as he smacks the Joker a good one in the chops, sending him flying. "JASON TODD!" he roars, anger and exhaustion merging into unstoppable rage. Over and over, he thinks of Jason, and cries his name. "Jason!" he yells, and I'll let the sound effects finish the scene. KUNCH SWAK SHOK CHOOF SHUMP CHUD SWOKK SPLAMM "JASON!!!" And that pretty much does it for the Joker. THAT is an effective use of a death - a source of rage and sorrow for the Batman lo these many years later. It wasn't just being remembered as a victim, or a 'violent upstart who wouldn't let Batman save him', as you put it - sure, Jason was overly impulsive and a bit of a brat at times, but that had nothing to do with his death. He died doing the right thing, died far too young, and he died not due to any particular misstep on his part, but due to the fact that Batman couldn't get there in time to save him - and that guilt will haunt him 'til his dying day. "Just a boy - but forever gone" is what he thinks at the end of the fight, and that strikes me as a pretty good way of putting it.