Robert Sandifer

Robert "Yummy" Sandifer was an 11-year-old American boy from Chicago, Illinois. Sandifer's murder by fellow gang members in Chicago garnered national attention because of his age, resulting in his appearance on the cover of TIME magazine in September 1994. Nicknamed "Yummy" because of his love of cookies, standing 137 cm, Sandifer was a young member of the street gang the Black Disciples (BD). After committing murder, arson and armed robbery, he was murdered by his own fellow gang members who feared he could become an informant, and that he was attracting too much attention towards their activities. Coverage of Sandifer's death and retrospectives on his short, violent life were widely published in the American media. Sandifer became a symbol of the gang problem in American inner cities, the failure of social safety nets, and the shortcomings of the juvenile justice system.