American 2-seat jets have the ability for command ejection by the back-seater. However, that authority is usually selected by the pilot, and by-and-large pilots do not give their back-seaters this ability.
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In the video I posted today, EJECT! EJECT!, John Nichol and Ward Carroll discuss command eject at some length. Carroll (F-14 pilot for 15 years) says that originally pilots did not usually enable back seat command eject, but after several incidents in which the pilot was disabled or injured, now the majority do fly in that mode. It’s still at the pilot’s discretion, and presumably they wouldn’t enable it while flying an untrained person in the back seat, especially after the 2020 Rafale B incident in France. It was only due to a malfunction that the pilot was not ejected as well and was able to fly the plane back to the base without a canopy and land safely. (The passenger landed safely.)
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You are, of course, correct. Mostly it’s a question of crew trust. When a crew has flown together a bit, there is a bond that develops that allows the pilot to feel “safe” allowing his back seater to initiate ejection for both if he is injured. Remember, if the pilot initiates the ejection, the back seater goes automatically - he has no choice (especially since he usually has no aircraft controls in the back).