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The focus is on discrete defects that can be modeled by continuum mechanics, but where the discreteness of the carriers of plastic deformation plays a significant role. The formulations are restricted to small deformation kinematics and the defects considered, dislocations and discrete shear transformation zones (STZs), are described by their linear elastic fields. In discrete defect plasticity both the stress-strain response and the partitioning between defect energy storage and defect dissipation are outcomes of an initial/boundary value problem solution. Discrete dislocation plasticity modeling results are reviewed that illustrate the implications of defect dissipation evolution for friction, fatigue crack growth and thermal softening. Examples are also given of consequences of three modes of the evolution of discrete defects for size dependence and dissipation in constrained shear. The requirement that the dissipation rate is non-negative, which is a specialization of the Clausius-Duhem inequality for a purely mechanical formulation, imposes restrictions on kinetic relations for the evolution of discrete defects. Explicit kinetic relations for discrete dislocation plasticity dissipation and for discrete STZ plasticity dissipation identify conditions that can lead to a negative dissipation rate. The statistical mechanics form of the second law allows the Clausius-Duhem inequality to be violated for a sufficiently small number of discrete events for a short time period. In continuum mechanics, at least in some circumstances, satisfaction of the Clausius-Duhem inequality can be regarded as a requirement for stability. One dimensional continuum calculations illustrate that there can be a negative dissipation rate over a short distance and for a short time period with overall stability maintained. Implications for discrete defect plasticity modeling are briefly discussed.