#re-reading Death in the Family and its leadup issues for my fic and and this meta just popped out of me apparently

[fantastic-nonsense]

the issue ultimately posed in "The Diplomat's Son" is not whether Jason did or did not push Felipe Garzonas or whether it would have been justified if he had (or rather...it is a question, but it's not the most important issue). The issue deemed more important to highlight is that Bruce questioned whether Garzonas fell or was pushed and doubted Jason's word when Jason said he fell. Any discussion of Jason's "temperment" or "anger issues" and whether he feels justified in taking that anger out on the criminals he fights is secondary to that point.

The entire issue is very careful to paint Bruce as sympathetic to and understanding of Jason's anger and frustration over their inability to actually hold Felipe accountable for his repeated abhorrent behavior in the face of his diplomatic immunity. The fact that Jason is impulsive and angry over the situation isn't framed as "this is something inherent to Jason's personality" but a specific emotional response he's having to an incredibly fucked-up situation:

"You've apparently become too emotionally involved in this case, Jason." -Batman #424

There's also an element of "he's young, but he'll learn in time" implied in Bruce's thought boxes:

"Over the next three days, we have a dozen opportunities to bust Felippe Holding. But we hold off. I want to take out a part of the senior Garzonas' operation when Felipe takes his fall. Jason doesn't like this idea. He hasn't yet learned that ninety percent of crime-fighting is waiting." -Batman #424

Bruce's pointed question at the end ("did he fall...or was he pushed?") in response to Jason's initial refusal to explain what happened is framed as a double point: we as readers are asked to consider the implications of what Jason did or didn't do...but we're also asked to consider the implications of Bruce even thinking that Jason might have pushed him:

Bruce's immediate conclusion to Jason's refusal to answer a question is to ask if Jason killed him, and then look distrustfully at him as he grapples off? And that's the last panel? It's not just about what Jason did or didn't do here, but about Bruce's reaction.

The fact that the immediate follow-up to the story (Garzonas's father attempting to get revenge on Bruce and specifically Jason for his son's death) retells this story fairly sympathetically, highlighting Jason's inability to "deal with the injustice of the situation," just hammers this point home, especially considering that Bruce thinks there's a solid possibility his 15-year-old son just killed a man:

"Knowing Felipe was going to take another crack at her, Gloria Stanson opted for a foolish and very permanent way out. This set Jason off. He just couldn't deal with the injustice of the situation." -Batman #425

But Bruce's doubt of Jason's word permeates #425 (in fact, the panel directly after this highlights Bruce's distrust of Jason as his partner and his decision to unofficially bench him), and his "teaching moment" at the end is the punctuation mark:

"His name was Jose Garzonas. He was Felipe's father, Robin. For every action in this universe, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Consequences, Robin. There's no escaping them." -Batman #425

#424 and #425 are often pointed to as Starlin's attempt to provide some sort of narrative justification for Jason's death. But the issues' treatment of Jason doesn't seem to really support that. Bruce is generally sympathetic to how Jason feels about the Felipe situation, Jason's anger is specifically noted to be at the "injustice of the situation" and his frustration over his helplessness and inability to save Gloria, and Jason seems to learn whatever lesson Bruce is trying to impart on him about "the consequences of his actions" in the closing pages of #425. Bruce's issues with Jason's hypothetical actions and the fact that he continues to doubt Jason's word is more important for the narrative to deal with than any actual issues Jason might be having.

Of course, this gets turned around in Death in the Family to focus on "how oddly" Jason's been acting as of late and Bruce+Alfred ultimately connecting this to Jason's unresolved grief over the death of his parents, but it is notable that even here, they note that this anger and recklessness is odd for Jason. In other words, it's not how he normally acts:

"Robin-Jason Todd-had been acting oddly of late. Very moody. Resentful. Reckless......I toss him to Robin. Let the boy finish him off. He obviously has a dangerously high level of aggressive energy to work off." -Batman #426

And Bruce and Alfred specifically trace this uncharacteristic anger and recklessness to Jason's unresolved grief and issues over his parents' deaths. It's why Bruce takes Jason off active duty in the first place; not because he's worried that Jason is a danger to other people, but because he's worried Jason is a danger to himself:

"The kid's losing it. He dived into those thugs like someone looking to die." -Batman #426 (Death in the Family: Part 1)

Later attempts in the 90s and early 2000s to victim-blame Jason for his own death and call him a "bad Robin" with anger and impulsivity issues largely contradict both the issues leading up to his death and the actual story in which he dies. Ultimately, "The Diplomat's Son" and its follow-up are more concerned with Bruce's doubt over Jason's place at his side as his partner than whether Jason himself is suited for heroing, and "A Death in the Family" is more concerned with Jason's unresolved familial trauma and how those resurfaced issues specifically cause him to act so oddly that Bruce benches him for his own safety.

tl;dr: Jason wasn't a bad Robin and he didn't have anger issues. He was a 15-year-old kid who was a) immensely frustrated and angry after watching a traumatized woman hang herself while her abuser walked free and then b) upset over his unresolved issues regarding his parents' deaths (especially after realizing that Catherine Todd wasn't his bio mom and that he still might have a living mother). Bruce doubting Jason's word and yet still seeing the outcome as a teachable moment is the more important point of Jason's final story, not painting Jason as being angry and impulsive in an effort to narratively justify his upcoming death.