What are the advantages of the jury system for an individual accused of a crime

Having a trial by jury can be helpful to a defendant if
they are the sort of person who can appeal to a jury -- if they look nice or if they
have a sad story, things like that.

If you are a person
like this, you can hope that the members of the jury will have sympathy for you.  You
can hope that they just like you when they look at you.  Or you can hope that they will
feel sorry for you and understand that your life has been
tough.

A judge might be a lot more harsh.  The judge would
have seen lots of criminals come and go and would be way more cynical and less
forgiving.  In such circumstances, you'd want a jury trial because you might hope you'd
be more likely to be acquitted or, at worst, to get a lighter
sentence.