In January, Lucas, 13, took his own life after months of bullying at school in eastern France. In April, it was Thibault, 10, in the Loire region. In May, Lindsay, 13, in the North.
These and other deaths in France were associated with physical, verbal, or psychological violence perpetrated by peers in the school environment and social networks.
In addition to the commotion and the alert, the cases called into question the measures adopted in the country to combat school bullying and made Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne announce the issue as an "absolute priority".
In early June, four teenagers blamed for homophobic insults against Lucas were found guilty of school bullying but not suicide. They face up to 18 months in prison.
What was celebrated as a victory, however, did not cheer up psychologist Emmanuelle Piquet, author of more than ten books on the subject. She believes that punitive strategies are doomed to failure.
"What we are doing is evidently not working, and the punishment is making children and young people create other types of bullying that are not caught by the radars of adults", she points out to Folha.
Translated by Cassy Dias