Molecular dynamics simulation on a fcc perfect crystal with the Lennard‐Jones potential is performed in order to investigate temperature dependence of shock‐induced plasticity. It is found that the critical piston velocity above which stacking faults emerge shifts downwards once the temperature exceeds approximately half the melting temperature. Also Hugoniot elastic limit is found to be a decreasing function of temperature, whereas the corresponding critical strain is insensitive to temperature. The discrepancy between the simulation and the experiments where Hugoniot elastic limit is a increasing function of temperature is discussed. © 2004 American Institute of Physics