There is a legal aspect

There is as legal dimension to the atonement, but it should never dominate and eclipse every other dimension. Human guilt is a problem, but mere acquittal was never the goal of the cross. As with Hosea’s marriage, God wants our relationship with him restored. Jesus suffered judgment in our place, and the consequences of sin fell on his head. But they fell on him not as a third party but as the last Adam. In him God was dealing with the old Adamic solidarity. The judgment did not fall on the beloved Son but on our representative and therefore on us. Christ delivered sinful humanity up to a well-deserved destruction.— Flame of Love, page 110

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Yes. That's the proper perspective for the penal aspect of atonement! It's more than a forensic judgment; it has to result in a changed life—a new life!
</idle musing>