What is the difference between mitigating and aggravating circumstances?

"Mitigation" refers to a tendency to lessen the negative effects of something and "aggravation" refers to a tendency to increase the negative effects of something. I imagine that the context of these two concepts is in respect to criminal legal proceedings, so mitigating circumstances are those that tend to make the crime less awful or more justifiable, such as someone stealing a loaf of bread to feed their starving family, and aggravating circumstances are those that make a crime more awful or less justifiable, such as torturing someone before murdering them.